True Brothers
by akspick
Summary: Obi-Wan has visions, and being young and stupid decides to follow them. After all his little brother needs him, and he has promises to fulfill even if he hasn't made them yet. Obi-Wan/Satine
1. Visions Bad Advice and Worse Decisions

Yada Yada I don't own Star Wars or Jedi Apprentice.

Chapter 1. Visions Bad Advice and Even Worse Decisions

Three months shy of his thirteenth birthday, Obi-Wan Kenobi began having visions. They started with Mustafar, he watched his little brother burn over and over again. Each night he woke up sweating and crying, stomach churning in grief. He ignored the visions, dismissing them as dreams, after all he didn't have a little brother, and certainly not one named Anakin. Besides he had other more important things on his mind, mainly his approaching thirteenth birthday, and his need to find a Master. But the dreams didn't stop, and he saw more, much more.

He saw Qui-Gon Jinn take him as an apprentice, he saw his Master become more and more burdened by grief as people slowly died, becoming a bitter frustrated old man. He watched his Master reject him for Anakin Skywalker. 'My little brother' his mind had supplied, the grief burbling up once again, before he was once again swept away in visions.

The visions jumped from one thing to the rest, not often in order. Slowly in Obi-Wan Kenobi's dreams the galaxy swam into chaos, Anakin ripped away from him, burning always burning.

Now Obi-Wan was not a stupid child, and so after about a month, when he could no longer ignore or dismiss the visions as dreams, he went to go speak to Master Yoda.

Shifting on one of the poufs that decorated the ancient master's meditation rooms Obi-Wan watched the dust mites float in the lines of sunlight from the shuttered windows and waited for Master Yoda to emerge from his contemplation of the brief summary Obi-Wan had given him. Obi-Wan had not told Yoda overly much about the visions; they were unbelievable even to him, and with the deadline to become an apprentice even nearer he didn't want to jeopardize his last remaining chance to become a Jedi. Finally Master Yoda too stirred, his wide green eyes carefully surveying the young red haired child in front of him, features still round, making him appear younger then he is.

"To help you accept your future, I believe, these dreams are."

"But Master Yoda, they-"

"Accept things you must, young Obi-Wan. Jedi seek not happiness."

"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan replied with a sigh, knowing that even that disappointment was a failing as a Jedi. "I will meditate, and release my feelings."

"Good, good young Obi-Wan. Have faith, you must."

"Yes Master." Obi-Wan replied bowing as he took his leave, not at all satisfied with the answer Master Yoda gave him, as the image of Anakin, his little brother and he knew as of last night, his padawan, burning flashed across his mind.

Obi-Wan became more and more distracted, as the dreams continued night after night. Death and destruction, war, slowly strangling the Jedi as a fatal disease. He hardly spoke to any one anymore, lost in his own thoughts, spending all of his free time in meditation, trying to make the images clearer, trying to understand, to piece things together. His agemates dismissing his strange behavior as nervousness at his approaching birthday. In fact Obi-Wan hardly cared about the date that marked his thirteenth year, when Bant his best friend, had brought it up at dinner the night before the padawan tournament, he had almost forgotten about it. He already knew that someone would choose him at Bandomeer, and had put it out of him mind. His mind was long gone, thinking about the clones that had yet to come into existence, wondering why no one had looked more closely into their origins. When exactly had the order for them been placed?

"I'm sorry Bant, but what did you say?"

"I said, Obi, that there is another Master coming home today, Master Qui-Gon Jinn, he's going to watch the tournament tomorrow." She finished with a slight scowl at him.

Something jumped in Obi-Wan at the name. Thinking of the man in his dreams he turned to Bant,

"What does this man look like Bant?"

"I don't know Obi, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

"Right, right, the tournament." He muttered his mind already running back to the clones.

Bant managed to roll her eyes at him and give him a worried glance all in one look, before turning to someone who would actually respond to her.

That night Obi-Wan dreamed about the temple burning. This dream was clearer then the rest. They were all dead, every single one. The children splayed across the beautiful temple floors as if broken. He tried to run, to find his friends, but his legs, longer and thick would not let him, and he was peripherally aware of Master Yoda clomping along beside him. Slowly the images began to blur, until it was just the dead swarming across his vision. The final death rattle of the disease that had been killing the Jedi. Some faces he knew, some he didn't, but there were so many, so many. Please he begged, to the force, to someone, to anyone, please make it stop, and then with terror, although he didn't know why,

'Anakin!'

He awoke with a start, sobbing, shaking, and clutching at his pillow. The chrono told him it was several hours before he had to get up, but he did not think he could sleep after such a sight. After watching the star ships hanging on his ceiling drift for a few moments the shaking stopped, and he slipped on his boots, heading for the door.

Except that everything reminded him of the vision, there had been bodies in that corner, blood spread there, the younglings…

Suddenly Obi-Wan couldn't stand it anymore, this was what the force had been trying to show him for months now, the conclusion of his visions. He broke into a run, this was what would happen if he continued on the path. His home destroyed, his people murdered in their beds, genocide. How was he just supposed to accept this, meditate on the fact that he would be the last Jedi. What if Anakin was among those bodies, no, Anakin burned, he knew that, Anakin burned.

Finally Obi-Wan's feet slowed, and he found himself in front of the vaulted openings of The Room of a Thousand Fountains. The carpeted stairs giving way, to a carpet of living grass. Pulling off his boots, he ran towards his and Bant's favorite pool. He stopped short of jumping in, settling next to the edge, and running his fingers through the cool still water. A scent of prescience threatened to burble up, something about Bant drowning, but he forced it back down, and settled down himself, crossing his legs, to meditate.

"What are you doing here initiate?" A deep stern baritone asked.

"I'm trying to meditate." Obi-Wan replied, snapping, half already lost back in the vision, before realizing he had heard that voice before, almost nightly for the last two months in fact, and the fact that he had just been unfailingly rude to it.

Eyes snapping open, Obi-Wan came face to face with the man who had been his master in his visions. Deep blue eyes, neatly trimmed beard, and long brown hair just beginning to go grey, in a neat half tale. A man whose name he thought was Qui-Gon Jinn.

Obi-Wan said nothing, just propped his hand on his chin and stared. So he was real then, the visions were real. Although he knew he had come to love this man in his visions, he did not yet, and so was not as forgiving of the many times Qui-Gon Jinn had pushed him aside. In fact after tonight's vision he was not even sure he wanted this man as his Master. So Obi-Wan continued to stare, his mind slowly drifting away to possible futures.

Qui-Gon Jinn for his part was quite disturbed by the quiet grey-eyed boy in front of him, whose eyes had yet to leave his face. He was in a rather bad mood due to the fact that Yoda had called him back to the temple most likely to coerce him into taking a padawan he did not want. His mood had gotten worse when he had suddenly been disturbed by something and dragged out of bed by the living force to the empty Room of a Thousand Fountains. All set to ream the boy for being out of bed late, especially after that rude reply, Qui-Gon's response had been derailed the moment the boy had set eyes on him. There was something unidentifiable in the almost clear gaze, perhaps a speculating acceptance. Then they had faded to somewhere very far away, farther away then any twelve year old should be. Clearly forgetting that Qui-Gon even existed. There was something almost creepy about the boy, but desperately sad as well, sort of lost. Still with an urge from the force, Qui-Gon plowed on, his tone much softer this time.

"That is not an answer little one." He replied settling down beside the boy, crossing his legs to match.

The boy sighed. "Dreams, bad ones. Are you Qui-Gon Jinn?" The abrupt question again threw Qui-Gon for a loop.

"Yes, I am, although I fail to see what that has to do with dreams-" he paused waiting for the initiates name.

"Hmm? Oh Obi-Wan, Kenobi. In this case, Master Jinn, it does." His voice trailing off to wherever he had been before. Although Qui-Gon desperately wanted to know what that meant, he set it aside for now.

"Dreams pass in time, Initiate Kenobi. It is best to focus on the here and now." Obi-Wan just stared at him again, this time clearly in the present. An appraising gaze, his head tilted to the side, clearly taking in all of him. Although what he concluded when he turned away was indecipherable to Qui-Gon.

"Master Yoda told me much the same Master Jinn." There was nothing in the boys voice, yet suddenly Qui-Gon had the vague notion that there had been a test and he had just failed it. Still he went on bravely.

"You should listen to him then, he is usually right about such things." The boy, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon's mind corrected, just nodded, his gaze turning away. "If you like, I could help you meditate." The cool grey gaze turned to him again.

"I would appreciate that, Master Jinn." The boy nodded solemnly, accepting the man's hand, and falling into the familiar breathing pattern.

They emerged hours later. To a lighted room, meant to mimic the morning sky outside. They sat quietly for several moments, letting the noise, both within and without the force slowly invade their senses. It was Obi-Wan who spoke first.

"Thank you Master Jinn. I hope you find what you're looking for. I need to go, the lightsaber tournament is in a few hours."

"Of course Initiate Kenobi. I wish you luck." At that Obi-Wan smiled at him, the first smile he had seen on the boy's face. It transformed it, turning it back into the face of a young boy again, not that of some ancient old man, some oracle. Yet it was still sad, as he turned away, picking up his boots on the way out. Qui-Gon turned back to the pool, to sink into a deeper meditation of his own, before the boys voice pulled him back again.

"Oh and Master Jinn, I am sorry."

"What for, little one?"

"What happened to you, what will happen I suppose." And with that the boy was gone, too quick for Qui-Gon to shout after him, to call him back.

Obi-Wan managed to pull himself together enough to fight Bruck in the tournament. The last several weeks, lightsabers had been one of the few things that had kept his mind away from the visions, and so what would have once been a tense fight for his very lively hood became a respite. Bruck's taunts didn't even register, as he flipped and dodged, letting the force slid through him, the physical and the intangible combining perfectly. If he were older he perhaps would have described it as the feel of the taught muscles pulling, and how everything worked in perfect tandem, giving him that bubbling joy. But Obi-Wan was twelve years old, and so he only knew exercise was fun.

Later when he emerged from the showers he found Qui-Gon Jinn waiting for him. Sitting across the table in the lounge, his hands folded under his chin. Obi-Wan again smiled at him.

"If you feel it's not right Master Jinn, then it's not right. I'll wait. May the force be with you." And with that he was gone, skipping out to celebrate with his friends, bright smile, even brighter, calling out, laughing.

Later when the order for Bandomeer came, Obi-Wan was once again far away. He slowly packed, contemplating what it meant. In his visions he supposed it was the beginning. Before he had thought it meant the end. Now it was just a turning point, another choice to contemplate. Could he really just let what he had seen come to pass, the genocide. Weren't Jedi sworn to prevent such a thing? Why was it any different when it was his own people. Could the force, as his elders said, really just be preparing him for a hard life?

His hands moved of their own accord, and when he finally looked down, he realized this was not at all what he had planned to pack. Sitting on the top were clothes meant to keep the cold out, his one set of civilian clothes, a tool kit, and the small model fighter Bant had given him. It wasn't much at all, in fact it was down right pitiful, so pitiful that he moved it to a smaller bag. Light he though absently to himself, as he sat it at the end of the bed, 'I'm travelling light."

The next morning when Bant had come to see him off, it was he who had comforted her. Reassuring her that where ever he went all would be well, even if he never saw her again. Finally he had stood before the ship he was meant to board. The Monument, perhaps a monument to the past of space travel, he though absently, rubbing his hand behind his head where a padawan braid would be. The visions once again swam into his mind, scrolling by, next to the words of his teachers.

"'Dreams pass in time' yes I know Master, that's what I'm afraid of" Obi-Wan muttered absently to himself. His fingers moving to clasp the model star ship from Bant. Anakin had loved to fly, loved it more then anything else in the world. The burning he had been seeing for the last several weeks was suddenly in his throat.

Perhaps if Obi-Wan had been older, perhaps if Obi-Wan had had a Master to guide him, or even a parent to watch out for him, or really anyone to remind him that making life decisions is a bad idea in a very emotional state he would have made a different decision, insisted that people listen, asked the force what to do. But Obi-Wan Kenobi was twelve years old and all who had watched out for him had not listened, had told him to forget, would not give him a straight answer. Perhaps with the way the Jedi were it would have made no difference if he had made a different decision.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was frustrated, and young and alone, and half convinced he was going crazy, and all he could see was his little brother burning, his little brother who he was supposed to watch out for, to take care of, because he had promised, was burning. It was all too much, and so Obi-Wan made the only decision that was logical in his mind. Obi-Wan Kenobi turned away from the Monument and did not look back.


	2. In Which Ben Learns to Surrender

Star Wars isn't mine, big surprise.

Chapter 2. In Which Ben Learns When to Surrender

A month later Obi-Wan, who now went by the name Ben was sitting atop a building in the Blue Sector of Coronet, Capital of Corellia. After abandoning the Monument in its moorings, he had snuck aboard a ship to Corellia, hoping to find a passage out to Tatooine from Corellia at the smaller but no less busy spaceport.

Tatooine, he had not heard of it before his dreams, all he knew was that Anakin was found there, and so with that vague plan he had tried to find a ship that would at least take him to the outer rim. They had all laughed him out the door, even when he had snuck aboard a shuttle up to the massive shipyards floating above the planets surface, trying to find even a bit of work. Which was why he found himself back on the planets surface in the rough Blue Sector, occasionally making his way down to the series of underground tunnels that ran beneath the city. Avoiding both the CorSec police force, and the sector of Corellian Jedi, who in his opinion were just plain weird.

No one paid him much attention, he was just one of many kids and teens to roam the streets in the worse parts of town. Dressed in his civilian clothes, that got dirtier by the minute, and without a braid, he looked no different than any other street kid. Acted no different either. It had taken him a week to get hungry enough to steal, another week after that to use the force to do it. Which lead to the reason he was currently sitting on the edge of a building, legs over the edge, drumming a steady beat on the side of the building. About a floor below him was an open air market, set on one of the many sublevels. It was easy enough to pick a mark, and either levitate the goods up to him, or push them into an ally and then jump down to retrieve them.

Obi-Wan was so concentrated on moving the shopping bag of produce under a cart that he almost didn't see the Corellian Jedi, in his bright colored robes turn away from the crowd and head toward the force movement he sensed. Dropping the bag immediately Ben pulled his legs from where they were dangling, and turned and ran across the roof of the building, flipping through the air down behind it, into the back alleyways.

He could hear shouting behind him as the Jedi had apparently called in CorSec. Changing his course he headed towards the spaceport, and its many hidey holes and large crowds. Although if he had a Jedi on his tail it was doubtful that he would be able to hide at all. After taking a sudden left he was forced to use the force even more, to scramble up the side of a building, as CorSec appeared at the other end of the alleyway.

Now jumping from building to building, using force enhanced speed, Ben could both see and hear the spaceport a couple blocks ahead. Finding an empty alleyway, he spun down, and ran, merging into the crowd, shielding as best he could. He headed into the warren of deeper ports, those for smaller ships, several levels down. Keeping his head lowered he walked with the crowds, until turning a corner, he saw CorSec in their tan uniforms weaving through the crowd quickly behind him and he broke into a sprint. Despite his speed, they were much closer then before, and turning back frantically, Ben noticed the bright tabards of the Corellian Jedi joining them, and not caring any more added the force to his steps. He used it to jump over obstacles, flying over the heads of passersby in tightly controlled spins; he had always been good at acrobatics.

Digging into the force completely he let it guide his steps, leading him deeper into the warren, he didn't even notice when the CorSec officers were left behind, and only the Jedi were gaining on him.

"Obi-Wan! We're not going to hurt you!"

"Initiate Kenobi! Stop!"

The calling of his name only spurned him on further. Of course they knew his name, every Jedi in the galaxy probably knew to watch for him at this point. Of course they weren't going to hurt him, they were Jedi, but that wasn't why he was running. If they caught him, he couldn't protect Anakin. He couldn't be Jedi if he went back to the Jedi. With a sudden jerk the force pulled him to the left through a rapidly closing doorway, and into a spaceport.

Unfortunately the door was closing in preparation for the ship leaving, and so with one last push, Ben threw himself forward across the platform, through the exhaust of thrusters, and onto a closing loading ramp. Sliding under the last foot of the airlock, pulling his bag through just before the final clang of the airlock door.

Panting, Ben slowly pushed himself off the floor. That had hurt, he was going to have bruises for weeks.

"Don't kriffing move, Brat." A gruff voice spoke above him, and Ben felt cold metal press against his neck. He froze, halfway off the ground, bag clutched in one hand the other pressing against his side. The voice called for others and soon Ben felt himself being yanked up, his bag disappearing from his grip and forced forward. He didn't struggle, it seemed like a bad idea with these folk, a quick blaster shot to the back of the head. By the time they made their way up to the rather large cockpit Ben had felt the ship jump into hyperspace, a rather shaky jump at that he noticed with alarm. Despite that it still gave him at least a tiny bit of relief, finally safe from those chasing him, as he was shoved to his knees in front of a gruff looking man who was obviously the captain.

The man was a human of average height, and heavily muscled. His head covered in tattoos instead of hair. He barely glanced up as Ben was dumped at his feet. Speaking as he turned back to the console.

"I got a policy on stowaways, you know that boys, dump him out the airlock." Ben felt himself begin to panic, and he began to struggle, as he was dragged backwards.

"No, Wait! I swear I'm not a stowaway. Please! I was just trying to get away from CorSec." It was futile, the men were too strong.

"Please, I swear I'll find a way to pay for my passage! I'm a mechanic! I can fix anything! I can fix that jolt when you go to hyperspace!" Ben spat out in desperation, recalling the shaky jump. The captain paused at that, holding out a hand, motioning the men to pause.

"You really think you can fix that shake kid?" The captain spoke through a skeptical grin, leaning backwards, as if Ben might provide him with a tiny bit of relief from monotony. The entire bridge was leaning forward as if Ben could provide them with a great deal of relief, some of their grins rather savage.

Looking around nervously, Ben felt a smidgen of regret at his words but plowed on bravely, looking up at the captain. "Yes, sir, if I had to guess, I think the electrons in your hyperdrive, are slightly out of alignment. That could be dangerous sir."

"I've had two other mechanics take a look at that, neither of them found a star's thing wrong with it. They both went out the airlock for their nuisance. Why should I even give you a chance, brat?"

"What have you got to lose?" Ben tried to shrug but found it difficult in the grip of the two crewmen.

The captain shrugged back and ordered the men to take Ben to the engine room. Saying to call him when Ben was finished.

Later surveying the mess of the engine room that he had been shoved in, Ben wasn't surprised in the least bit about why no one had been able to find anything. He wasn't a mechanic exactly but he had always excelled at those classes at the temple, and the force had gotten him this far, he really had nothing left to loose. Touching the model fighter secured in his front pocket, as apparently they weren't going to give him his bag back, he fell into a light meditation before getting to work.

Two hours later, his boots were off so he could climb better, and his hands were covered in burns and makeshift bandages, but he had found the problem. It was just as he had suspected, if the electrons got anymore out of sync the whole system would blow. It was a wonder no one else had seen it, he had only found it with the force, the meters were all connected to the wrong thing entirely, in fact the whole ship was flying death trap. Making sure that the two crewmen guarding the door weren't watching, he reached out slightly with the force and knocked everything back into place.

The effect was immediate, the ship shuddered for a moment, before it almost let out a purr. He emerged from the bowels of the engine a moment later, a rather large grin on his face, only to find two blasters pointed at him, and another man on the comm with the captain.

"Tell the captain I fixed it." Ben replied to the blasters cheerfully, his accomplishment not dimming in the sight of danger. When the men didn't reply, he merely shrugged and settled into the mass of wires crossed legged. The grin still stretching across his face.

It was wiped away a moment later when the captain came storming in, grabbing Ben up by the collar and screaming in his face.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY KRIFED-DING SHIP!" Ben flinched back from the spittle but replied as calmly as he could, managing to suppress the shake in his voice as much as possible.

"I, um, I fixed it. Your energy intake should be much smoother now."

"Show me" the captain replied, with a jerk of his head, dropping Ben to the floor. Ben climbed shakily to his feet and did as bid.

"See here, the sensors weren't actually fixed to anything, so no one found the problem, and it's no wonder this place is a mess." Ben tutted forgetting himself for a moment, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Anyway" he continued at the darkening look of the captain, "I re-routed some things, and measured it by monitoring some other equipment, adjusted those and it fixed the electron alignment. Good thing too, or we'd all have been space dust in a few weeks."

The captain just raised one tattooed eyebrow.

"I suppose yah do have a use after all boy." Then turning to one of the guards, "Take him down to Doc, and get him fixed with a chip." Ben paled.

"A what?"

"That's the last question I'll allow boy. You snuck on to my ship, which makes you my property, and since you got some value, I decided to keep yah. Be grateful I didn't toss yah out with the trash you are." He grabbed the front of Ben's shirt, spittle flying. "You try and leave my ship you'll find yourself blown to pieces. Got it Brat?"

"Yes, Sir!" Ben's voice was almost a squeak.

"Try again slave." The Captain's grip on his collar tightened.

"Yes, um, Master. Yes Master!" Ben nodded as best he could. The Captain gave a sharp nod in return, and handed him off to one of the crewmen.

Several hours later, Ben, still groggy from the operation to put in the chip, was thrown back into the engine room, and the pile of crap it contained, his bag, which he thought he had lost following him. He hadn't even tried fighting, they really would have tossed him out an airlock then, and for some reason the force seemed pleased by this development.

"I wanted a Master, but not this way." Ben muttered, and taking out the model star ship settled down to meditate. He emerged several hours latter, and after confirming that with a bit of work he could turn off the chip buried in his leg, looking around got to work. As much as it irritated him to work for pirates, he also hated a badly kept engine more, besides if he didn't prove himself worthy of the food he ate, he wouldn't even need to worry about food anymore, well he wouldn't really need to worry about anything. Besides it made his job easier if the place was clean. Who knew what useful stuff was buried in here.

And so life went on. It took him three days to even get the stuff off the floor. He built himself a little nest underneath one of the power tubes, it was nice and warm in the chill of space. He was quite glad the force had directed him to pack warm clothes. The engine, under his careful watch, didn't break down much, and so he spent most of his days improving his connection with the force.

No one really bothered him, the cook was nice to him, and so he rarely went hungry. The crew was half and half, some spat at his very presence, and some treated him like any other crewmember, which seeing as how they treated each other wasn't much. Occasionally the Captain needed him for something. That was unpleasant, but he finally learned what the Jedi could not teach him.

He learned to release his anger and he learned patience from the Captain's mercurial temper. Although it came with many bruises, he could stand for hours as people spat both words and spittle at him and not be bothered a bit. It also occasionally irked him that he worked for pirates, but what could he do? Although he could jump ship anytime with just a little force manipulation, the force was telling him to stay on the ship. Besides the pirates had yet to stop anywhere useful on the outer rim. So the slave Ben who had once been named Obi-Wan Kenobi, settled down each night surrounded by the soft bur of a well working engine, and waited.


	3. The Meaning of Family

I don't own Star Wars etc.

AN: I will be updating on Thursdays from here on out. Hopefully every one, possibly every other one.

Chapter 3. The Meaning of Family

To Obi-Wan's thirteen year old eyes it was a long wait, a little over a year in fact, and once again the force decided to play tricks on him. There was one thing that Obi-Wan had not thought of that Ben most assuredly would have, and that was the fact that as a slave he could be sold at any time. Worse he could be sold to a space station, a self contained isolated system that was jer-kazey hard to escape from. Ben rather liked the word jer-kazey, he had heard one of the crewmen say it the other day. In fact his collection of swear words matched that of seasoned spacer.

He employed several of them in his mind when one of the crewmen woke him with a kick to the ribs.

"Up you dakeishii. Captain wants to see you." Ben nodded, and rose to his feet, not bothering to slip on his boots, the floor was cold, but it hurt more to walk in the too small leather. Slipping on a patched jacket that the cook had found for him when his last one had been taken by a smaller crewmember, he checked that the model fighter Bant had given him was in one pocket and his tool kit in the other. After all, the captain probably wanted him to fix one of the kaffe dispensers again.

However instead of being lead up to the Captain's quarters as he thought, Ben was led down to one of the loading bays, a place he rarely if ever had cause to go. To his shock he realized they were docked, at a space dock no less. Standing next to the Captain was a somewhat reptilian bipedal alien of unknown origin, wearing what looked like a long blue skirt and a jacket with fur trim. It looked female, although Ben wasn't sure. He checked the force for answers, but it seemed to be giggling mysteriously at him, bubbling with mirth. Annoyed he went to stand beside the Captain.

"Here he is," the captain spoke, clasping a hand on Ben's shoulder, "lucky day for me when this brat decides my ship would be a fine way to get a free ride. Best damn mechanic I've seen. Ain't that right boy?" he finished giving Ben's shoulder a shake.

"Yes, Master." Ben spoke quietly but firmly to the floor. What on earth was the force playing at? His chin was tilted up from the floor by cool scaled fingers, and he found himself looking up into the alien's face.

"What's your name little one?" it asked.

"Ben, um…" he trailed off not knowing what to call her.

"My name is Pi-Lappa, Ben, but you may call me Ma'am."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Now Ben, what would you use to offset the biometrics of a type 2-J scanner of Jordianian make, if it was fitted into a 84 bit 8 Locking platform?"

"Well first I would hibernate the platform, so I could see exactly what needed to by nullified, then I would…" Ben continued on in that vein for some time, before she held up her hand.

"You have proven your point young Ben," then turning to his Master, "His skills are adequate, how much did you want for him."

At that Ben looked up with a startled glance. He was being sold! His first thought went to his pack, but he dismissed it immediately, everything in his pack was too small to be used anyway. He had his model fighter and his toolkit, he would be fine. But how was he supposed to find Anakin if he went to another Master? He didn't even know where here was. Although Pi-Lappa, the woman who was buying him seemed nice enough. Still he was nervous as the transmitter that held the key to the chip in his body was handed over, and Pi-Lappa beckoned him forward and over the threshold.

'I'm sorry Anakin,' Ben thought as he followed Pi-Lappa down through a tunnel, 'I will find you I promise.' Then they emerged from the tunnel into what was obviously the main promenade of a Space station. It was not large, although the place was not deserted; there were quite a few people of different species walking about, all obviously with a place to be. Cargo was being loaded and unloaded from one entry way, and there were open front rooms on the other side, that seemed to be serving food. The whole place was done in sharp gray metals. It reminded Ben of the entrance way to a rather dingy office building. Ben felt Pi-Lappa's hand descend onto his shoulder.

"Welcome to Kabray Space Station, Ben. Come along to the lower levels, you'll live and work with me there"

"Yes Master."

"Just Ma'am is fine Ben." Yes, Ben was definitely starting to like this woman. He followed her along several corridors descending ever deeper, until they emerged into a huge room, scattered with parts, over several long tables and shelves and what looked the controls, inner workings, and access ports to the entire station's systems. It was all beautifully clean, impeccable organized, and so so beepy! Buttons wires, pipes, everywhere! Ben was as thrilled as a child in a candy store.

"Shmi!" Pi-Lappa called, "come meet our new mechanic," and out of that mechanical mess descending from a ladder, came a human woman. She looked to be around thirty or so, perhaps her late twenties. She was neither pretty nor ugly, but she had a kind smile, and warm brown eyes, a strong jaw, and long dark brown hair tucked up under a kerchief.

"Shmi, this is Ben. I just bought him off the most miserable space pirate. Didn't know what he had." Pi-Lappa addressed the woman, then turned to Ben.

"Ben, that was the most brilliant answer to my question I have ever heard. You actually solved the problem, most people just assume that the two parts can't work together."

"Oh, um, Thank you Ma'am. I'll do my best."

"Don't be so nervous Ben, Pi-Lappa won't throw you out an airlock if you screw up." It was Shmi who spoke then.

"Well Shmi, I leave him in your capable hands, I have a managers meeting in ten minutes."

"Of course Ma'am, I'll show him the ropes." And with that Pi-Lappa left. Then turning to Ben Shmi continued, "Don't worry Ben, Pi-Lappa's the best Master I've ever had. She runs the entire maintenance department on Kabray, as well as repairs on any ships that come in. Our job is to help her in any way she asks. Now let me show you the maintenance level." She motioned with her hand to the mess of machinery in front of them. As Shmi continued to explain, Ben noticed she had a slightly odd accent, where it was from he didn't know, but it was mildly pleasant to listen too.

Ben found that he was to share a small apartment with Shmi that was on the same level as maintenance, it was originally Pi-Lappa's but with the increasing amount of stock she owned in the station she now had a bigger place on the upper main levels. Ben found himself helping Shmi make dinner, and being gently questioned about his past.

"Do you have a last name Ben?"

"No, not for Ben any way."

"Would you like to share mine?"

"I, um, You would let me do that?" Ben spoke in surprise, "I would be honored, Milady." At the unexpected his voice picked up its previous gentle patterns of upper Courscant instead of the rougher tones it was becoming used to."

"All right, then Ben Skywalker you are." Ben almost speared himself with the knife he was using, at that name. The force was practically shrieking in joy. Shmi continued on unnoticing, "It's about time some one else had that name anyway, heaven knows if I have any family left, and I doubt I'll have children."

"It's a beautiful name. One who walks the sky. Thank you Shmi." Ben replied shakily, regaining his composure.

"You're welcome Ben, now tell me about you're last Master, Pi-Lappa said he was awful?" and slowly Shmi, kind soul that she was, dragged the whole story out of him.

Even the fact that Ben was once a Jedi.

"Please don't tell any one!" Ben begged after it had slipped out.

"Of course not, Ben. I would never betray you. I am sorry you were ever forced to leave such a life. And if you wouldn't mind, I would like to hear more about this force of yours. What you've described, I-" she trailed off unsure how to continue.

"Yes Shmi?"

"I've felt some of the things you've described, would you teach me? The dreams too, not as many as you've had only glimpses, but enough."

"Of course I'll teach you Shmi, as much as I can, although it's not much."

"Thank you, Ben, now what about you're little brother? How will you find him if you're stuck on this station?"

"This is kind of weird, but I think I already did."

"Ben?" Shmi turned almost sharply.

"That thing about you probably not having any children might not be true. I could be wrong of course. But the force practically screamed at me when you said you're name." Shmi looked dazed, but then a smile lit up her face.

"This force will grant me a child?" She spoke in almost reverence, her voice a whisper "I hate to bring a child into this life, but a child is always a blessing. I never thought to have them" her thumb reached out to stroke along Ben's cheek bone, then she planted a kiss on his forehead. "Now I think it has brought me two. Thank you Ben, for bringing me this news, thank you for taking care of my son in the last life. You have already granted me the honor of taking my name." Taking Ben's hands in hers she continued, "Would you also now call me mother?" Ben found his eyes suddenly wet, even though he had only just met this woman he felt incredibly connected to her, he wanted to say yes but…

"But Shmi I let him burn, I failed him, or I will fail him. How could I accept such an honor when I-." The scenes from his visions began to overwhelm him. Wiping the tears that now fell freely away from his cheeks Shmi spoke soothingly.

"Oh Ben, from what you've told me there was nothing you could do. The Sith destroyed everything. Who knows if you were even alive in these visions? And now you've given up everything to protect my son, even your freedom. I wish there were infinite honors I could bestow upon you."

"I-, you really think so?"

"I know so."

"Then, thank you Shmi, I mean Mother. Thank you Mother." Gathering Ben in a one armed hug, Shmi kissed the top of his thick rats' nest of red hair.

"You are very welcome my son. Now come dinner is almost ready, and then afterwards you can teach me about your force." She paused to pick at a tangled strand of hair, "And then a hair cut I think."

"Yes Mother." Ben spoke with a smile, helping his Mother up to gather plates.

The force swirled around them, so smug Ben almost felt like swatting it.

They ate a quiet dinner, and then went back to work afterwards, Ben still getting used to working with the much bigger set up of the maintenance level rather then just one engine. Shmi then told Ben about her life, she had been a slave since young childhood. When she was six pirates boarded the ship her family had often travelled on, and she had been separated from them. She had spent most of her childhood in an alien crime lord's estate on the outer rim as a house servant. After that she had moved around fairly quickly as fortunes changed. Pi-Lappa was her fourth owner, and the best of them all, more a friend or a boss then an owner. It was Pi-Lappa who had taught Shmi everything Shmi knew about mechanics.

Apparently Pi-Lappa was ancient for her race, although she didn't act like it, she was approaching three hundred years old. Pi-Lappa also owned much of the space station, which altogether had about two hundred permanent residence and along with being a way station for about a hundred travelers a day was home to some rather illegal research and salvage projects. Humans were in the minority out here. Most humans were slaves, although Pi-Lappa only owned the two of them, one of the other station managers had several slaves, human and non-human both.

Eventually it grew late and Ben helped Shmi prepare a bed in one of the rooms off their small kitchen, which was currently being used to house boxes, some empty some full. Shmi clicked her tongue at his lack of belongings, including shoes, and promised to find him some in the morning, along with some new proper clothing. She loaned him one of her old tunics to sleep in, and then began her first lesson in the force: Meditation.

Shmi was a natural. Her calm nature and temperament, lead her easily to something she had been using unconsciously all her life. The force seemed gleeful that one of its own had finally found it, and she found herself wrapped in an embrace that felt very much like a mother welcoming her child home. In fact it was Ben who almost seemed the novice in this instance. His day had been exhausting and stressful and his sleep schedule was rather off. When Shmi emerged from her meditation she found her newest child asleep on his side.

'He is a handsome child' she thought to herself. His hair, although matted and covered in grease was a beautiful swirling shade of light brown, with a strong red gold. His features round, making him look younger then he was. Shmi had a feeling that once he grew into his features he would look quite handsome, but that he would take longer than most. He was going to look pale and loony for a while. This effect was exasperated by the fact that he was too small for his age of fourteen, and some how despite his travels still innocent. Yet brave; brave or perhaps foolish enough to go off to protect a child he had only seen in his dreams. He was so new to her, to this life, yet she felt as if he truly were her child. Brought to her by the gods, well she supposed he was. She felt she knew him as if she had had him since he was a baby. Smiling, she gently shook him awake.

"Oh, I'm sorry Shm-, I mean Mother." Ben muttered, rubbing his face with one hand and sitting up.

"No matter, Ben. It is late. I'll wake you up in the morning."

"Thank you Mother." He replied, stumbling towards his makeshift bed.

"Good night Ben."

"Good night Mother." And with that Shmi turned off the lights.

Quickly their days fell into a pleasant pattern. Days filled with work, and evenings filled with the force and learning anything Shmi cared to teach him. Cheating at cards, funny stories about odd aliens, how to knit, embroider and weave, really anything she knew.

It truly did feel like they had been living together all their lives, although sometimes wills did clash. Ben had never had one person looking out for him before, and had been for sometime keeping his own schedule. Or rather as most fourteen-year-old boys do, not really keeping any schedule in terms of personal health or hygiene. It didn't really help matters that he had been living on a pirate ship, where everyone regardless of age acted like they were fourteen. However, Ben was also a Jedi, and politeness came to him easier then breathing, and so he often acquiesced to her way of doing things without a fuss. Shmi adapted as well, she didn't have to tell him to explicitly do every single little thing and she trusted him with a great deal more then many fourteen year old boys. Giving him the freedom of an adult, or as much freedom as one could get as an adult slave. Under her administration Ben shot up like a weed, a rather shabbily dressed but always clean and well put together weed.

There were very few other children or teenagers on the station. Of the two hundred or so people who lived on the station, three were around Ben's age. One was a female twi'lek prostitute on the upper levels, about three years older then Ben, who got very little time off. Her name was Aayakas and when she did find time to come by for a meal or two she more often then not gossiped with Shmi. Ben didn't mind, the extra company was pleasant, but he didn't seek her out. She had little use for males she wasn't getting cash from.

The second was a human female a year younger then Ben, named Che-cha. She was the daughter of one of the human managers, who did not approve of her associating with slave scum. This of course made Ben's company all the more attractive to her. Although Ben did like her he also didn't want her father coming after him, he had no protection as a slave, and so often avoided her so as to avoid trouble.

The third was a Rodian boy a year older then Ben, named Joolii who lived with his father on the space station. Ben didn't know what Joolii's father did, and didn't ask, with Rodians violent natures it was better not to know. Joolii didn't mind one wit about Ben's status, and often came down to visit. He was thrilled to find someone who spoke huttese. Although he could speak basic it was difficult for him. He also often chased Che-cha off, or warned when her father was coming. Joolii had travelled even more then Ben, and he unlike Ben often got to visit the planets he stopped at, so he always had interesting stories to tell. It was pleasant to work on something at one of the benches in the maintenance level while Joolii told stories, or sang. He had a wonderful voice, especially singing songs in Rodese, his native language.

Ben wasn't always trapped in the maintenance level with only Joolii for company either. Shmi was often around, and sometimes Pi-Lappa called Ben up to run simple errands for her or take notes, and often maintenance needed to be done on other parts of the ship. Which depending on who he ran into could be fun, or rather unpleasant. The space station was like a small town, but the fairly awful type. Everyone knew who he was but some of them hated him for being human, and some looked down on him for being a slave, but most were decent enough.

So was life for the slave Ben Skywalker; difficult yes, sometimes filled with indignity, but not cruel or impossible. Often downright enjoyable, not necessarily physically easier as he often still practiced martial arts and the mechanical work was often difficult, but certainly emotionally easier then the apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi's would have been. He had a mother who loved him and friends who he saw everyday, rather then a Master known as a maverick that he often disagreed with. His force connection grew almost daily, as did his gift for prophesy not constrained by Qui-Gon's opinions, as did Shmi's and life was agreeable in a very domestic way.

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	4. In Which One is Gained and One is Lost

I am reverently grateful I don't own Star Wars. Do you know how hard making a movie is?

Chapter 4. In Which One is Gained and One is Lost

Anakin was born when Ben was sixteen years old. Pi-Lappa had been very understanding about the whole thing, although rather confused about how short and painful the whole process was. Apparently her species nested on eggs for about two years. She especially didn't mind as Ben often made up his mother's lost work.

Shmi had gone into labor two weeks late in the middle of the night. The force had woken Ben with a rather large poke and sent him tumbling out of bed and into his mother's room.

"Mom?" he'd called loudly as he had heard her moan. "Mom are you alright?"

"Ben? Turn on the lights please. It's just the contractions starting." She had groaned again in pain as her stomach had clenched. "Ben get the water and everything just like we planned. Call Pi-Lappa as well. I'm going to need you in a few minutes to help me touch the force."

"Of course, Mother." And Ben had hurried to do as asked, trying to release his anxieties into the force, although his fingers still shook as he activated the comlink, and drew the water to boil.

His mother was in pain, but Anakin was coming. Ben had felt Anakin in the force almost from the moment he had come into existence. A blinding light that reached out to him at almost every moment it could, becoming more solid and more real from one moment to the next. Shmi had had very little problems during her pregnancy as both she and Ben could calm the developing life through the force. Even now Ben could feel his little brother in the womb, emotions yet to be properly defined, but still a definite sense of wanting out but at the same time being scared. Sending out as best he could love and comfort to both his mother and little brother he began to gather the supplies needed, hoping this was going to be a very short labor. Shmi who had helped at births before had instructed him what to do but he still had very little idea what was going to happen. They had no medical facilities on the Station, and the ones on the closest planet would do more harm then good.

Soon not only Pi-Lappa, but two other human women had arrived. One was one of the owners of the upper level restaurants and a good friend of Shmi's. The other was a rough looking bounty hunter with lots of medical training who owed Ben a favor after he had translated for her on several occasions, and gotten her out of a rather sticky spot with one of the other station managers.

Ben soon found himself relegated to fetch boy, running in and out as his mother's cries grew louder. The other women gathered around his mother's bed. Shmi although fit, was thirty-three years old, and the birth was not an easy one. Eventually Pi-Lappa left to go attend to other duties, and Shmi called Ben in.

"Ben." She moaned, "Ben come here, I need you to help me pray." Praying was their word for touching the force when any one else was around.

"Of course Mom, anything." Ben spoke, kneeling by her side, as she gripped his hand.

"Start with the" Shmi let out a moan, "start with the breathing please."

And so Ben did guiding her as much as he could into the force, trying to help her release the pain. Although her moans continued to grow louder, and tears wouldn't stop streaking down her face. Ben stayed by her side, focused in the force on his mother and little brother signatures, occasionally wiping sweat away from her forehead. He barely registered the other women in the room telling his mother when to push, or when Shmi gripped his hand so hard the bones creaked.

It did register when the sound of a baby's creaky first screams bounced off the walls, and his little brother's emotions finally flew through the force perfectly clear, as if a hammer had just struck a crystal, and it resonated endlessly through his head.

"Anakin." His mother whispered, her voice a bit hoarse. "Ben bring him to me please." Ben went to do as told, raising himself on to weak stiff legs, sending out soothing waves to his mother, as he walked over to where his little brother was being swaddled in cloth.

It was at that moment when Anakin, his little brother, the boy from his dreams, was placed into his arms that everything changed. Anakin was so tiny, no longer then Ben's forearm, his face all scrunched up and red purple. Pitifully shrieking his little head off, until his weak eyes focused on Ben's face. His eyes were almost colorless they were so blue, and they just stared up into this strange being, but somehow they knew. Ben could feel it in the force, Anakin knew him. Anakin knew him as the presence in the womb, he knew him as his elder brother, and he knew him some how deeper than that, as a person to be trusted, a person who would always take care of him, and perhaps he knew Ben's soul. Ben could only stop and stare. Clutching the most precious thing in the world in his arms, until one of the women who had served as a midwife pushed him towards his mother, who was gently being helped up to sit.

Gently, more gently than anything Ben had ever done, Ben lowered Anakin into his mother's arms, and backed away. There was cleaning up to do, and the force told him his mother needed her own moment with Anakin. His mother's friend stayed, and began to cook dinner, calling down Pi-Lappa on the com to greet the new life. The bounty hunter who owed Ben a favor checked over his mother, before taking up Anakin and checking him over as well. She declared them both perfectly fine, before pressing a list of written instructions into Ben's hand. Ben followed her to the door, leaning tiredly against the frame, as she stood with one hand on her hip.

"Make sure you and your mother follow these to the letter. Understand Ben?" Her voice was gruff with the outer rim burr, "Although you seem to be in fine hands with that other woman." Ben nodded gratefully; slipping the note into the pocket he kept the model star fighter Bant had given him in. Then because he didn't know what else to do, he bowed low, dropping to his knees and taking one of the woman's hands in both his own, and pressing it to his forehead.

"Thank you, Madame Chury." for that was the bounty hunter's name, and the Madame added because a slave never addressed another by only a name unless instructed to do so. "Thank you for helping my mother. Even if you did owe me a debt there are not many who would honor that debt to a slave, so thank you. If you ever need my help again, all you need to do is ask." Chury looked almost shocked before covering it with gruffness. Pulling Ben to his feet, she gripped him by his shoulder.

"I'm holding you to that promise Ben, you make sure you take good care of that mother and little brother of yours, for as long as you can, you hear me?"

"I will Madame Chury. I promise." Ben nodded.

"Good boy." Madam Chury replied patting him on the cheek before disappearing down the hallway, passing Pi-Lappa bustling down the hallway. Pi-Lappa called out to Ben as she approached Ben, Shmi, and now Anakin's rooms.

"Boy or girl Ben?"

"Boy Ma'am, his name is Anakin." Ben spoke as Pi-Lappa headed past him, unable to prevent a tired grim from spreading across his face. Anakin was here. Ben had been waiting so long, and now Anakin was here.

Ben followed Pi-Lappa in, waiting at the door, as she spoke with a nursing Shmi.

"He is beautiful Shmi. Ben said you named him Anakin?"

"Yes, there was no other name for him. Do you approve?"

"Of course, it is a perfect name, he is your son Shmi, I would not deny you the right to name him."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I hate to ask, but when will you take him to…" she trailed off hesitantly, unable to finish the sentence.

"I am sorry Shmi, but he will have the chip in him tomorrow. I swear I will not take him from you though. Either of your sons." Shmi didn't reply, just nodded silently. Pi-Lappa gave a small sigh. "I suppose I should tell you I intend to free you before I die. My time is growing close, and I'll be damned if I hand you or your sons over to my thieving scum of a family."

Shmi looked up in shock, at this statement. "You mean that, Ma'am. You really mean that?"

"I swear on my stock in this station. Now I brought young Anakin a gift. Joolii will you bring it in please?" Ben whirled around to find his best friend behind him. He had been so focused on his mother and Pi-Lappa that he had failed to sense the Rodian.

"Of course, Manager Pi-Lappa." And flashing the Rodian version of a smile at Ben as he waltzed passed, Joolii dragged in a bassinet. "Can I spread the word around the station that Ben has a little brother Madame Skywalker?"

"Of course you can Joolii, tell everyone his name is Anakin Skywalker." At that moment Shmi's friend Linda, the restaurant owner who had been cooking dinner for them came in.

"Out, Joolii. Shmi needs food then some rest. You too Ben. Go make yourself a plate and then to bed. I'll take care of little Anakin for now. My husband's not expecting me for another day."

"I'll be heading back upstairs then." Pi-Lappa said, rising to her clawed feet. "Ben you call me if your mother needs anything?"

"Yes Ma'am." And with that, Linda was shooing everyone out including Ben, who did as instructed and after gobbling down food, didn't even feel his head hit the pillow he was so tired. Linda stayed with them for another day, showing Ben what to do and making up a second list for him to follow. After that it was hard. Shmi spent most of the two days after that in bed nursing Anakin. Ben worked frantically to catch up on repairs, while stopping to feed his mother and change Anakin, who was now called Ani. It was Ben who accompanied Pi-Lappa to insert the chip in Anakin's tiny arm. Afterwards Anakin had sobbed for an hour, and unwilling to disturb his exhausted mother Ben had rocked Anakin, until he fell asleep. Pi-Lappa, who was clearly a gift from the force, had finished the repairs that Ben needed to do for Ben.

Everything about Ani fascinated Ben, after dinner on the third day when work was finished and his mother still slept Ben had sat for hours, Ani cradled in one arm just watching him within and without the force. Ani's hand, which was wrapped to keep his fingernails from scratching his little face, had flailed about until it had rested over the pocket in which Ben kept the model star fighter.

Ben pulled it out, only to hear Ani coo.

"I can't tell if you want this Ani, or you just have gas." Ani gave no sign even through the force, continuing to jerkily wave his hands about, and burble. Ben rubbed the star fighter between two fingers, and decided that even if Anakin couldn't understand him it was time to tell a story.

"Ani, this is a Jedi star fighter." Ben began softly, "The Jedi are the bravest of warriors. They keep the peace all across the republic, and bring justice wherever they go. They fly from planet to planet putting things right." For emphasis he zoomed the model above Anakin's eyes. Anakin had calmed suddenly at the beginning of the story and was now watching the star fighter as intently as someone a week old can. "There were once two Jedi knights who were the bravest of the brave. They were strong and fast, and fierce, they were simply called The Team, and whole evil armies of the Sith fell at their feet. They became legends: their names were Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They were the best of friends, closer then brothers even…" Ben, who was once called Obi-Wan Kenobi told Anakin Skywalker all he had seen, even the bad. It wasn't until he had finished that Ani fell asleep, and so he laid Anakin down in his bassinet. As he stood gazing down at his little brother's sleeping face, he made an oath.

"I promise Anakin, my little Ani, I promise that will never ever happen to us. We may grow to be brave and strong and even Jedi, but I will never ever let you burn, either of us. We will stay with the light. I swear it to you. We will walk the sky and for even in the darkest night there are still bright stars, and even if they burn out we will make our own light. I swear on all that I am, and all that will be." He paused fingering the model Bant had given him, there was still something else he had to do. "I think this is yours now Ani. You always did love to fly." And he hung the model above Anakin's bassinet, and after stroking his little brother's sleeping face with one calloused thumb retreated to bed himself.

The year following was hard, but wonderful. It was hard to take care of a small child and a space station at the same time, as they often acted in the same fussy colicky manner. Ben and Shmi could often be found in some tube or another with a baby strapped to their back. Shmi was insistent that Ben not take over too many of the duties though. He was still sixteen she protested, often as she shooed him out the door with Joolii. Although Joolii adored Ani, often stopping by to play with Ani, as much as to talk with Ben.

Ani's toys were certainly unusual as well. Little things that Ben or Shmi found time to make for him, or often spare bits of smooth metal. His favorite was a soft tool grip that had broken off one day. Ani chewed on it incessantly while teething. He was an annoyingly active child, always getting into things he wasn't supposed to, learning to pull himself up on things and trying to walk far to early. He was always covered in bruises from falling down, and demanding attention. By the time Ben was several months past seventeen and Anakin was a little over a year, Anakin had learned to say Ben's name, often accompanying it with a demand to be "up!". Regardless it was clear that Ben adored Ani and Ani adored him. Shmi adored them both and often began her meditations by thanking the force for sending them both to her, even if they would be called away later to serve.

It was just about then when trouble arrived. His name was Pi-Jaddic and he was Pi-Lappa's nephew. As Pi-Ladda said, "My meddlesome family is trying to weasel in and scope out what I have. Damn it! I still have a good five years left in me. They send that-" here she used a word so dirty that even Ben who made a hobby of collecting swear words cringed, "to spy on me and mine, in the guise of help. Help! Bah! well I won't have it!" she finished with a bang, bringing her fist down on the work bench and making it shake, and Ani giggle, from where he sat on a blanket on the ground. "Ben you keep an eye on Pi-Jaddic for me won't you? You tell me if he comes snooping around down here?"

"Of course Ma'am" Ben replied, straightening the table and getting back to his project. "I don't like the way he looks at us, especially Ani. It's as if he's licking his lips." Pi-Lappa nodded and changed the subject to one even more uncomfortable: when Ben was going to find a mate. Then making him burn an even brighter red, by suggesting if he wouldn't take a lover then to at least put his body to good use and try and make a few coins off of it. At that point Shmi had come in suggesting it wasn't such a bad idea, and that maybe he should go speak with the twi'leks up three levels. After all he was a handsome enough boy. Ben had fled at that point, muttering a rather feeble excuse about some part or another and after grabbing his tool kit disappeared. At which Shmi and Pi-Lappa had burst into laughter, he was just much too easy to tease.

That moment of levity was the last one any of them had for about a year. Pi-Jaddic turned out to be a sneaky son of a bitch. Often bothering Ben and Shmi about just what Pi-Ladda did all day, and just how much she had, and then bothering Pi-Ladda with what he thought were serious suggestions, such as why Ben wasn't actually prostituting himself, and why Shmi didn't have many more children. Pi-Ladda just couldn't get rid of him. It all came to a head about a week after Ani turned two.

Joolii came running in, telling Ben and Shmi to grab Ani and come up to the main promenade, where Pi-Ladda and Pi-Jaddic were having a full out shouting match.

"Get OUT!" Pi-Ladda shrieked at Pi-Jaddic.

"But Auntie, you can't sell them. They're the most valuable things you have!"

"I am not selling them, I'm freeing them, you bloody scum eating letukuu. Now get out of my station!"

"Auntie I'm your family, I'm trying to-"

"You are not my family! You and the rest of them are a bunch of bottom feeders waiting for me to die! Either remove yourself from my station, or I'll get Ben to do so."

"That slave couldn't touch me if he tried. You are not destroying this for us Auntie, I swear it!" It was then that Ben, who at eighteen although still a little short, was heavily muscled, stepped out behind Pi-Lappa holding a thick metal pipe.

"My master asked you to get out. This is your last warning." He spoke, eerily calm, Jedi calm, although the others didn't know it. Pi-Jaddic glanced at Ben, and rethought his decision.

"You win this round Auntie, but you're making the wrong decision." He spoke patronizingly. Ben took a step forward, slapping the pipe against his hand. Pi-Jaddic took a step back and then with one last glare fled into the crowd.

"Well! What are you all looking at?" Pi-Ladda spoke up, and soon the crowd itself dispersed. "Thank you Ben. Where's- Oh there you are Shmi. Come up to my office now. I'm not letting you go another day in slavery, not if there is the slightest chance that someone like him gets their hands on you."

"Ma'am. I don't, I don't know what to say. Thank you." Shmi whispered, hugging Ani tight.

"No need for that Ma'am business now Shmi, I'm Pi-Ladda to you and Ben now and always."

"Then thank you Pi-Ladda." Ben could barely talk through his grin.

"I will miss you Ben." Pi-Ladda spoke as they took the lift up to her office. "You and Ani both. Sweetest boys I've ever met."

"What makes you think they're going anywhere? We can't leave you short staffed like that." Shmi spoke. "That is if you'll hire us?"

"Of course I will, now come on lets get the paper work ready, and I'll send it out tomorrow morning." And they all trooped into her office.

Ben was so overjoyed that night that he almost didn't sense the distress in the force. As he was getting ready for bed, the force practically shrieked at him. Without an explanation to any one he ran through the hallways missing his shirt and his shoes. He flew past the late staff, and the crew of a ship that had just arrived, and towards Pi-Ladda's office.

He was too late. Pi-Ladda lay sprawled across the floor of her office, an empty cup next to her, foam on her lips, clearly poisoned.

"Pi-Ladda? Pi-Ladda? Please wake up, please." He almost begged, shaking her, but she was already gone. He flew to her desk, the papers, he had to find the papers.

"What do you think you're doing boy." Standing at the door was Pi-Jaddic.

"You!" Ben hissed, whirling around. "You killed her. You won't get away with this."

"Of course I will you stupid human slave. Who out here is going to stop me. Pi-Ladda owned half the damn station, which means that now I own it, and you with it." Ben couldn't stand it anymore. He knew he wasn't supposed to get angry, he wasn't supposed to take revenge, but this, he just couldn't, they had been so close, and now he wasn't just angry, he was furious. But he had promised Anakin he wouldn't turn and so he turned his fury cold, he felt as if his veins were made of ice, and with that power he shoved with all his strength.

Pi-Jaddic went flying backwards smacking into the wall as if by an invisible hand, and sliding to the floor. Leaning over the slithering reptile, Ben grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up with one hand and the force.

"I should kill you for what you did, but I won't. You will serve my purposes quite nicely I think. You are going to sell my family, it doesn't matter where, I can take care of us regardless, but if you separate us or hurt my mother or brother in any way I will find you and I will kill you." Using his free hand he called the ceremonial dagger that was sitting on Pi-Ladda's desk to hang suspended in mid-air in front of Pi-Jaddic's left eye. "Believe me, when I say I could easily kill you. I can be thousands of miles a way and still snap your slimy little weak neck." Then with a malicious grin Ben let the shaking body drop to the ground.

"Jedi. You're a Jedi." Pi-Jaddic whimpered, scrambling backwards until he jumped as he bumped into his aunt's body.

"You wish I was a Jedi." Ben replied, "They play fair." And with that he left, to tell his family the terrible news, to say goodbye and to gather their few precious things.

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	5. Hutts, Bad Engineering, and a Visitor

Clearly I don't own Star Wars, so budge off.

Chapter 5. Hutts, Bad Engineering, and a Surprise Visitor

They were sold quickly the next day to a large package of slaves going to Gardulla the Hutt. Huddling on the crowded transport, among so much misery, Ben wondered about the will of the force sometimes. Shmi grasped Anakin in one arm, her other tightly around Ben's shoulders. Eyes wary she glanced out from under a drab green shawl, under which she wore an equally faded purple half jacket, beige shirt and brown skirt and leggings. Ben was dressed much the same, in brown shirt and leggings, a too large beige many pocketed jacket over that tied with an obi of grey fabric and wrapped from wrist to elbow with bandages to keep his sleeves from catching in things. His blue shawl was currently wrapped around a sleeping Anakin. Clutched in Anakin's hand was the model starfighter. Ben was thinking of taking it from him, scared as he was.

The journey took a full month and they were some of the first to disembark under the careful eye of Gardulla and her henchmen. Shmi gazed around at the sandy horizons, her eyes wary. Anakin was tucked in the crook of her right arm, his tiny fists wrapped in her shawl. Shmi's left hand wrapped around Ben's wrist, as he came up behind her, making sure she didn't lose him in the crowd.

"Well," Ben muttered in her ear, his voice bitingly sarcastic, "At least I finally made it to Tattoine, and look Anakin's here."

"Very funny Ben." Shmi muttered back as they queued up to be processed, and have their skills assessed.

"Names species and ages?" a droid asked.

"Shmi, Ben and Anakin Skywalker. Humans. Thirty-five, Eighteen, and Two" Shmi replied.

"Special skills?"

"Myself and Ben are both skilled ship and maintenance mechanics."

"Walk to your left, to receive your assignments." The next several hours were spent being told to hurry up, and then waiting, until finally Ben and Shmi had been assigned to work on Gardulla's large collection of podracers. They were mostly left to fend for themselves in terms of food and housing. As long as they avoided the guards and stayed within their chips' boundaries they were given no specific instructions.

Ben eventually found them a corner to huddle in for the night, keeping away several people who decided they looked like easy pickings with several mind suggestions.

The next morning Shmi handed Anakin to Ben and told Ben to get to work, while she made alliances. At Ben's protest she reminded him that she had been doing this for a lot longer then he had, not to mention that she too had the force. Nodding reluctantly and tying Anakin to his back, Ben had set out to find the maintenance bay.

Ben was the only living being aside from Anakin in the whole cool basement of scattered parts, tools, and about twenty or so flying machines, everything from a large desert schooner to speeder bikes. The whole maintenance bay was simply a huge dirt cave with the only light coming from dim overhead lamps, and the large opening at the end leading out into scorching desert. There were several astromech droids whirring around, and several other maintenance droids including the boxy EG-6 and one very lost republic city janitor droid, classified as RC-M10 desperately trying to keep the place tidy, while missing half its tool arms. Ben's first task was to shut it down so he could reprogram the poor thing.

By the time Shmi arrived with food and a grim expression, Ben was arm deep in one racer and had set the droids to organizing things.

"Ben come out of there so I can speak with you. Ani where are you baby?"

"Mama." Anakin called out from where Ben had made a makeshift playpen with some netting.

"Yes Mom?" Ben replied, emerging covered in grease already. Shmi handed him some food and picked Ani up before responding.

"It's not good Ben." Shmi's lilted accent thick with worry. "Not good at all. Firstly everyone speaks Huttese. There are thugs everywhere, and as far as I can tell there are no alliances any where, it's everyone out for themselves, people are too scared and there's too little to go around. Even if you do deactivate our transmitters we're too far from anywhere to escape, we'll die of thirst first. If we try and escape on one of the machines they'll probably catch us. Gardulla has too much money, slaves are worth less then droids out here." Shmi finished, and began to feed Anakin.

"What about freshers and things?"

"I'm sorry Ben, but there aren't any, and when I took the food from the kitchen, well it wasn't good Ben. I don't know how we're going to keep Ani from getting sick. It looks like anything we need were going to have to steal, and from what I can tell the punishment for stealing is death." Ben sunk to his knees beside the racer he had been working on with a sigh.

"Don't die mama" Anakin piped in.

"We're not gonna die, Ani, don't worry." Shmi replied, stroking Ani's blond head.

"I'm sorry Mom," Ben spoke, rubbing his filthy hands through filthier hair, "maybe I should have killed Pi-Jaddica, or at least tried harder to get us some place better."

"It wasn't your fault Ben. I know it's awful but we have the force, and it could be a lot worse. We could be separated from each other, or we could have been sold to a brothel. I hate to say it, but this is place is fairly normal for people like us. We're just going to have to survive, and try and get ourselves sold."

"All right, I think I can do that. About the food, I may be able to rig us a working kitchen in here. Maybe even a hydroponics bay if we can steal some seeds. It won't be much but it will be better then nothing. We might as well just sleep down here too"

"We're also going to have to figure out a way to keep things out from there." She pointed to the entrance leading out in to the desert. "Can you make us hammocks, at least for tonight so we don't have to sleep with," she paused trying to find the right word, "crawling things?" Ben nodded, his mind already far away with ideas. "Good, I suppose we might as well get to work."

By nightfall they had made a makeshift cooking and sleeping area. Even though the days were blazing hot the night was blisteringly cold, and occasionally you could hear the whispery rasp of something scaly moving across the floor.

Morning found Ben and Shmi sitting at the edge of what they had begun to refer to as the cave, while Ani played in the sand, meditating as the sun rose. Occasionally Ani meditated with them, but some days he didn't have enough patience, and Ben almost thought that with his connection to the force, he almost didn't need to. Shmi kept half an eye on him, making sure he didn't stray too far, or decide to pick up anything dangerous.

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning organizing, and seeing what they could salvage or steal to create the most moderate of living spaces. They took the corner farthest from the cave entrance to sleep in, with the help of droids, dragging shelves over to create makeshift screens, and hanging hammocks made from cargo netting behind them. Ben dragged left over cushions from old pod racer seats and a worktable just outside the entrance to the desert, hanging a canvas awning over them so he could have a good place to work with light.

Shmi fleshed out the cooking area, making pots and pans out of old sheet metal with a soldering iron. With Ben's help she made an electric stove out of some ancient heating coils, circuits, and a half used power source. The whole thing also doubled as a heater, when raised high off the ground so Anakin couldn't get to it.

Ben had commented that they didn't really need it, as all they had to do to cook was leave food outside at noon. All that had earned him was a look from Shmi. Just before lunch Ben began to see if he could cobble together a hydrogen collector to see if he could make water.

They stopped for lunch just after mid-day eating small pieces of flat bread that Shmi had saved from yesterday. After lunch their one and only protocol and communications droid an ancient and much modified GE3 bipedal, had informed them that they were to ready one of the pods for a race tomorrow. The astromechs had immediately congregated around the racer, although smart things that they were, had already learned to listen to Ben and Shmi, and waited for instructions.

Quickly asking GE3 questions, Ben and Shmi got to work. The GE3 despite being so old, almost three hundred years by Ben's calculations, was quite knowledgeable. Telling them anything they needed about the upcoming race, what time they needed the pod ready, what to do after they finished it, and how to contact the racer, a rather annoying Dug. Shmi was grateful to learn that GE3 also had some child watching programming, and set it to begin teaching Anakin huttese, although Anakin barely spoke basic.

The dug racer came by just before sunset with an entourage, posturing and bullying.

"_You're a woman, what you know about mechanics?_" The dug demanded in very backcountry huttese. Shmi barely spoke the language but she responded as best she could.

"_I learned on Kabray station. Sir. Owner taught me._"

"_They're just human slaves, boss._" One of the entourage spoke up, "_Don't bother with them._"

"_She can't be too bad boss. She's got two sons, strong womb on this one._" Another pipped in.

"_I don't give a shit's shoes about her womb. You better have that racer doing over three hundred, you understand woman?"_

"_Yes sir._" Shmi bowed, motioning Ben to do the same. With that the dug swept out to go see Gardulla, leaving Ben and Shmi to let out relieved breaths.

Later that night Shmi took Ben up to explore, leaving Anakin asleep under care of two astromechs as guard dogs and under the ministrations of GE3. First they went to the kitchen to get more food, Ben taking a large risk and stealing a whole gallon of water and some of the large fruits, to see if he could grow things from their seeds.

Next they wandered up from the slave levels to the upper living levels, which seeing how hutts lived wasn't much better. Ben even managed to find a holo-net portal, and download schematics to make a water-vaporator to pull moisture from the air. Despite the lack of sleep, it was definitely worth it, as when they retreated back to the cave they had everything they needed to make their life tolerable.

Ben and Shmi's pod modifications worked surprisingly well, and the pod won the race the next day. Then continued to do better and better each race. Soon they found that food wasn't a problem for them, as some of the racers grateful they hadn't crashed and died made sure they had what they needed.

Occasionally Ben or Shmi accompanied one of the racers to the track. That was always nerve racking, as that put them in direct sight of Gardulla who could easily blame them if one of her pods didn't win, which usually resulted in a bruise or two. Only once had there been a beating.

Anakin seemed to grow and learn more each day. Both in the force and whatever academic materials Ben could find, which wasn't much. By two and a half he could recite the alphabet in three languages, knew most of the parts of a podracer, and could set the sand and small pebbles to whirling with the force. Which annoyed both Ben and Shmi to no end, as one of his favorite games was flicking them in the head with said pebbles.

Anakin had such an odd upbringing in that cave, droids, who he really didn't understand weren't quite alive, and a few small snakes his constant companions. Before he could even really speak completely fluently Ben already had him fixing small things, trusting him not to simply shove small screws and such in his mouth. Ben and Shmi often sighed at the inadequacy of it, but Anakin saw nothing wrong. He loved his Mom and big brother, they always smelled nicely of engine oil and smoke, they always made time to play with him, and listening to their stories about Anakin and Obi-Wan the great Jedi, while bundled up under the stars was nice. The cave and its surrounding sand was home, everything else was terrifying to him. Shmi and Ben did nothing to discourage this attitude, it was terrifying to them too.

Although they thought they lived quite well and were content to just be left alone, and fix ships, they were in fact living in abject poverty. They had no running water, barely any electricity, and they lived with creatures of the desert constantly trying to find a cool place to sit. Ben had made a working vaporator, although it was only enough to grow their small row of vegetables, and sometimes enough water to give their faces a quick wash occasionally. Aside from that they were always filthy, and had only one set of clothes each. Often it was so warm they didn't really bother wearing much of them, they didn't need to protect themselves from the sun, living as they did in a cave. Occasionally there was time to relax on the cushions outside, and a nap during the hottest part of the day wasn't unheard of. When they needed new parts they sent one of the droids up to order them. The pods were better taken care of then they were. As long as they didn't really leave the cave, and disappeared when Gardulla came by to inspect things they were all right. The one time Ben hadn't gotten away fast enough after a loss, one of Gardulla's thugs had beaten him so badly he had been sick for a week.

Of course things were fine, well sort of miserable but fine, until the force decided to mix things up again. It decided as always that these sort of things had to occur in the exact middle of the night, waking Ben up with a jerk once again.

"Ben. Honey, what's wrong." Shmi muttered from where she and Ani were sleeping in a hammock, as Ben woke her up by tumbling out of his own hammock.

"Not sure Mom. Be alert. Stay here, felt something." Ben muttered back quietly, searching for and hefting the longest wrench they had in one hand, the one he often used to practice his katas with.

Moving quickly and silently towards the dirt stairs leading up to the upper levels, he began to explore, the force guiding his movements. All seemed quiet, and he could find nothing wrong, still the force urged him forwards. Finally he found himself in one of the passages coming off from the main entrance way. There was a quiet but intense scuffle going on just to the left of him. Pressing himself into the shadows Ben edged as close as he could get, pulling the wrench up into a ready position.

Suddenly the force seemed to shout "Now!" at him and using the force to enhance his speed he jumped, bringing the wrench down on one of Gardulla's hulking saber toothed guards.

With an almighty crack on the guards green skull, the creature toppled to the ground. Leaving Ben facing a young human in his early twenties with a yellow stripe across his deeply tanned nose, a quickly bruising cheek, a few dreads, and a padawan braid.

"Really Quin," Ben whispered, "even I can do better then that." Quinlan Vos, a jedi who although a few years older then Ben, had been in Ben's clan, stared back in shock. Rolling his eyes at Quinlan Ben leaned down over the guard.

Shmi had discovered a few months ago that she could create electric sparks with the force if she rubbed air molecules together when she snapped. Ben applied this technique to the guard now, causing him to jolt awake.

"There was no one here, you saw nothing, you fell and hit your head. You can go back to sleep now" Ben whispered, waving his fingers in front of the guards bulbous eyes, and letting him slump back to the ground. Beckoning to Quinlan he lead the way down another set of stairs and towards the cave.

"Who are you?" Quinlan whispered after a few moments of tense silence as they traveled through the filthy fortress. The figure in front of him was utterly unrecognizable to him, with filthy shabby clothing, dirty face smeared with grease, shaggy sun-bleached red-gold hair pulled back in a small tail, and skin cooked as far as skin so pale could be. Clutching the wrench loosely, this young man in front of him looked utterly destitute, and almost feral. Although his voice, his voice was odd, buried under a roughness was definitely pure Courscant.

Ben smiled at Quinlan's impulsive nature, but simply put a finger to his lips as they were passing a room with sleeping slaves in it. Up ahead they could talk. Pulling Quinlan into an unlit empty droid cupboard, and flicking on the dim light, Ben fell into a Jedi bow that one gave to those of similar rank.

"My name is Ben Skywalker, but I was once known as Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Obi!" Quinlan stared in shock, "What the hell are you doing here? Everyone thought you'd gone rogue after you ran on Corellia. Bant sobbed for a month."

"Oh kriff, I hoped I hadn't upset herself to much. She's going to be furious with me when I finally do get back."

"Damn right she is. The council is gonna be as well when I drag you back."

"Yeah, about that, Quin. I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

"Why the hell not?"

"To answer your original question, as to what the hell I'm doing here, I need to stay and protect my family. That's why I left in the first place, Jedi aren't really allowed to prioritize some suffering over others. I was having dreams about my little brother burning. Now come on, I can answer more questions later, its not really safe here. Also if you wouldn't mind, call me Ben."

"Sure Ben." Quinlan responded, but Ben was already on the move, gliding silently down the hallway, and over sleeping figures. He followed the almost ghost like figure down through the cool hallways, until finally he had to duck to get down a pair of out of the way dirt stairs.

"BEN! Where have you been?" Shmi whispered almost frantically, as the pair emerged from the bottom of the stairs.

"Ben!" Anakin squeaked joyfully, launching himself into his older brother's arms.

"Hi Ani. Mom this is Jedi Padawan Quinlan Vos. He needed help out of a tight spot. Don't worry no one knows he's here. I mind-tricked the guard. Quin this is my mother Shmi Skywalker, and my little brother Anakin."

"Pleased to meet you, Madame Skywalker." Quinlan replied, with a bow.

"Just Shmi is fine Padawan Vos. It is nice to meet another Jedi, but if I may ask what are you doing here, and why did you need my son to endanger himself."

"Mother. Please." Ben muttered.

"It's alright, Obi-, I mean Ben. Your mother deserves to know. I am trying to track my master. Master Tholme left me with Master Jinn on Ragoon VI a couple months ago, who by the way is not overly pleased with you either Ben."

"Well tough luck," Ben replied, hoisting Anakin higher on his hip, "he didn't want me in the first place."

"Anyway my Master's gone missing, and so I ditched Master Jinn to go after him. Last I heard he was visiting one of the hutts." Shmi motioned them over to their small outdoor cooking area where she began to boil bantha-milk for an herb drink. As they had no cooling unit it wasn't safe to drink otherwise. Sitting and accepting the drink Quinlan finished his story, and Ben and Shmi told him what they knew.

Quinlan had so far tracked his Master through three systems, and this was his last lead. That was until Ben asked him if he had visited Jabba. Jabba was rather nastier then Gardulla and hence was quickly taking over her territory, although he was still relatively unknown. Quinlan thanked them and asked them if he could stay here for just one night. Shmi of course replied with a yes, retreating back to bed. Leaving just Ben and Quinlan sitting on the cushions under the amazing starry sky, with Anakin asleep in Ben's lap.

"Obi-Wan, Sorry, Ben, what are you really doing here? I mean living like this," Quinlan spoke as he leaned back to look at the sky and motioned to the cave and the pitifully little it held. "You said you wanted to protect your little brother, but this is hardly the place for a child."

"We don't really have a choice. We're slaves Quin. I've been one since Corellia; it was the only way to find them" Ben replied quietly, watching Quinlan's carefully neutral expression before his eyes fixed on Anakin's sleeping face, stroking back the toddlers bleached blonde hair. "Quin, can you do something for me?"

"Sure Ben, anything."

"Look at Anakin with the force, tell me what you see?" Quin did so, concentrating hard.

"Seven Corellian hells." Quin whispered intently, after a moment, "He's so strong I could practically read at night from the light he gives off."

"I think he's the Chosen One Quin." Quinlan sat in silence for a few moments digesting that information, neither confirming nor denying Ben's suspicions.

"Do you want me to tell the council about you when I go home?"

"I'm not sure. I think the force wants us to stay here for now."

"Meditate on it with me Ben? You still do that right?"

"Of course Quin, my mother and I both, probably more then you I'd wager." Ben replied rolling his eyes, and the two young men settled down to do so. Emerging some time later as the sun came up, Quinlan drifting up after Ben.

"Sunrises and sunsets are the best part of this place." Ben muttered, shifting Anakin who was still sleeping on his lap to his shoulder.

"You love him a lot don't you? Regardless of blood." Quinlan replied.

"More than any Jedi ever should." Ben spoke softly, using his free hand to haul Quinlan to his booted feet. "That's why I think you shouldn't tell the council about us. I don't think Anakin is supposed to be Jedi even if he is their savior. I don't think I am either. The force is telling us to stay here for now."

"I will honor your wishes Ben, but you will come back to us someday right?"

"I think so Quin, but we'll just have to see. I'm certainly not going to let Anakin remain a slave forever." Quinlan nodded, and folded his cloak over Ben's shoulders. At Ben's protest he spoke.

"Don't tell me you don't need it. At least take it for Anakin. Thank your mother for me, she took a risk hiding me."

"I will. If you think they won't tell would you at least tell Bant and Garen where I am? You can leave out the rather unpleasant details."

"I will tell, but I'm not lying to them Ben. You live in a shit hole and your friends deserve to at least know their worrying wasn't for nothing."

"Thank you Quin. Good luck finding your Master." Quin nodded, and they grasped arms.

"Be safe Obi-Wan." And with that Quinlan Vos was gone, jogging out into the desert, towards where he had hidden his speeder.

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	6. In Which Anakin Terrifies Everyone

I don't own Star Wars. I'm also too tired to think of a witty way to say that.

Chapter 6. In which Anakin Terrifies Everyone

By the time Anakin was three he could speak both basic and huttese fluently, and when Shmi wasn't there often helped Ben fix things. When Shmi was there, she muttered things about ripping fingers, and poisonous fumes until Ben sent Ani to go do something else.

Ben was under one of the pod racers, three months after Ani's third birthday and five months after his nineteenth, fine tuning it, calling out instructions to Ani who was in the cockpit, when Gardulla came flying in on a grav-sled, with a blue flying toydarian at her side, too fast for Ani and Ben to hide.

"_Look your worshipfulness. The little human thinks he can podrace."_ The toydarian spoke to Gardulla in huttesse with a laugh in his voice.

"_Can you podrace, brat?"_ Gardulla asked, also laughing, she was clearly high on spice.

"_Yes, oh great Master!" _Anakin piped up standing up in the cockpit before Ben could stop him.

"_Please your greatness, my Master." _Ben begged, moving to block Anakin from sight, and bowing low, _"my brother is too little to know what he's saying. Forgive him his mistakes, and let me take our unworthiness out of your presence."_

"_No, no slave. Let the little brat stand up for himself. Think you can stand against Watto's racer littlest slave?" _Gardulla spoke, indicating for one of the guards to grab Ben, as he went to move forward again.

"_Yes your worshipfulness! Can I?"_ Anakin asked, excited. Shmi emerged from outside, having sensed something, and quickly tried to protest, but was shoved aside by one of Gardulla's guards as well. She watched in horror as the scene continued.

"_Of course you can. I wouldn't be so callous as to deny a child something would I?" _her laugh was cruel, and everyone was forced to laugh along with her, _"Watto a bet, if the child wins, your racer and pod come to me. If he loses, he and his family go to you." _Gardulla was clearly completely high on spice. Either way she was pleased, in one direction she probably got to see a child die a fiery death, in the other she had a new pod and racer.

"_As if I would refuse a bet from your worshipfulness. To the end of the spider snake canyon?"_ Watto asked gleefully, motioning for everyone to move in preparation for the race. Watto was clearly not high. His beady eyes glittered, there was no way the child would win, and if he did die then he got two new adult slaves.

"_Fair enough. MAKE WAY FOR A RACE!"_ Gardulla yelled.

"No!" Ben called out but his cry was lost in the sea of movement and excitement as two pods were pulled out and someone hoisted Ani into one, handing him a set of googles. Focusing desperately, Ben called out to Anakin in the force.

'Ani you have to use the force!"

'Ben you in my head!'

'Yes I am Ani, we'll talk about this later. Right now you need to do what we do when we meditate. Let the force protect you, alright?'

'Yes Ben. The thing that likes me right?'

'Exactly, be safe.' And with that the connection broke, sustained much to long for a first time anyway, and Anakin was off.

Ben and Shmi couldn't even watch the race, held in the back of the cave as they were. It was torturous to hear the oohs and awhhs of the crowd. Never had it really struck home to Ben how awful the life of a slave could be before, never, despite the beating, despite the awful way they lived, despite the constant fear. The fact that his family didn't even belong to him was the worst thing he had ever experienced, the fact that despite the force, despite all his strength, he could do nothing was the worst feeling in the world. No matter his accomplishments that word slave came before all else, that he was less than a person, when he knew he wasn't, suddenly at the moment struck home.

"I'm sorry Mom, I'm sorry Anakin. I'll do better next time I promise." He whispered to himself. Suddenly he understood, this was why people turned to the darkside. This was why Jedi weren't allowed families. At that moment, at his weakest he would have accepted the power of the darkside in order to protect his family. But he wouldn't, his family would also take him to the light, if he fell the power would corrupt him and then not even his family would be safe.

Suddenly as if the force willed it, Anakin came running through the crowd, face covered in dirt and exhaust, except for round goggle shaped circles around his eyes.

"Ben! Moma! Podracers fun! Force liked me like you said. Can I go again? Again? Please, please?" Ani begged, jumping up and down in front of Ben. Ben scooped him up into a relieved hug, desperately gasping Ani's name over and over into Ani's hair, as he was suddenly released from the hold of the guard. The reason for this appeared from behind Anakin, in the form of a blue toydarian.

"_You belong to Watto now boys." _ Gardulla called over the heads of the crowd, the spice thankfully still making her mellow.

"_What're you're names slaves?" _Watto asked. Shmi stepped forward then, taking Anakin from Ben, and gripping Ben's wrist again. She was not letting either of them out of her sight.

"_These are my sons, Ben and Anakin Skywalker, I am Shmi. I speak for this family, my new master. Please have mercy upon us." _She bowed to the toydarian.

He nodded grudgingly, his blue stubbly snout bouncing up and down, and then turned back to Gardulla, expecting the family to follow him. He spoke with Gardulla for sometime, Ben quickly making sure that the model fighter was tucked in Anakin's hand, the tool kit he had had with him since the temple was firmly in his pocket and Quinlan's cloak slung over his mother's shoulders, before taking his place beside his mother and little brother to follow behind Gardulla and Watto. Eventually the transmitters for their chips found their way into Watto's hand, and after a few more drinks, they found themselves following Watto into a speeder parked outside, and towards Mos Espa.

The force was oddly humming, a rather smug little innocent tune. It felt like things were finally happening, but at the same time still waiting. Ben was rather annoyed with it, he felt like sticking his tongue out at it, as Watto dumped them at his shop, taking the transmitters with him, and warning them not to go beyond the shop. Then he flew up to his nest in the roof, leaving them to fend for themselves.

It was freezing, pitch-black and repulsive.

"What is it" Ben muttered, as he spread Quinlan's cloak across the ground in the main room, "with reptiles, and cleanliness?"

"I'm not sure Watto and Gardulla are reptiles, Beni."

"Benny?" Ben muttered, as they laid down, Anakin already half asleep between them, worn out from his grand podracing adventure.

"**Yes**, Beni. Beni and Ani, my two brave sons, I like it."

"The team: Skywalker and Kenobi, sounds cooler."

"Story?" Anakin piped in at the names of his two favorite heroes, still half asleep.

"Not tonight Ani, go back to sleep, and it does too sound cooler."

"Oh hush Beni." Shmi whispered, rubbing a particularly oily spot on Ben's cheek. Not that that did much, merely smudged the dirt around.

"Mother, I'm nineteen." Ben gripped, but leaned into her touch anyway.

"I know Beni, I know." Shmi sighed settling into the cloak on her side, keeping both her sons in sight. Once they fell asleep she took one of each of their hands, and held on even after she had drifted off.

In the morning Watto found them a place in the slave quarter, also filthy, and small, but still a place of their own. They had neighbors who had come out to greet them, friendly and curious, and a kitchen and bedrooms, and a front courtyard. It was wonderful.

The started work that afternoon. It was pitifully easy after practically designing racers; repairing individual parts, cataloguing, ordering and salvage. They had so much freedom as well. Watto had set their trackers to three miles beyond the edge of town, so they could trade with Jawas.

Watto himself wasn't half bad. He was gruff, but he treated them all right, he didn't seem the kind to beat. Toydarians tended not to really register other species aside from their own unless they had money. He treated them really like droids, there only if he needed them. Although even after just a week he seemed fond of Anakin, often calling him little Ani. Ben, he was more annoyed with then not, Shmi reckoned he felt threatened by a younger bigger male then him, although he did enjoy the benefits from the strength that Ben had.

It was a month in when Ben found the most unpleasant aspect of being owned by Watto. A human woman, a smuggler by the looks of her, waltzed in for some parts. Then as she was paying for her purchases, she had said the unthinkable.

"How much for a night with your boy."

"One sec." Watto turned to Ben switching to huttese, which was much more eloquent than his basic, "_Ben, how much did your last Master charge for you." _Ben his hands shaking had put down the part he was making and very calmly replied.

"_Nothing Master, Gardulla didn't notice me, and before I was too young and my Master was kind." _The part about being too young may have been a tiny fib, but there was no need to explain about Pi-Lappa. He still often saw Pi-Lappa's prone form lying on the floor of her office in his dreams. Watto nodded and turned back to the customer.

"Another hundred and he's yours for the night, have him back in time to work."

The customer agreed, and told Ben the time and place her ship was docked at. Ben nodded and bowed and she was gone.

He hadn't needed to tell his mother. She had taken one look at his face and simply nodded.

"I want to run, but the force says it's not time yet."

"Then don't think about it. Just go and enjoy what you can. Be grateful he asked and is not just taking."

"It's a she."

"Then be twice as grateful. Unless," she gave her son a speculating look, "female's a problem?"

"No not really."

"Good to know." And that's all that was said.

When he arrived at her ship that night, he knew immediately that a mind trick would not work on this woman. She was in her early thirties, and from what he could see through the robe she greeted him with, still fit.

"Fresher's through there. Don't come out until I can eat off your abs." she purred, giving him a gentle push.

The fresher was glorious; sonics only but still wonderful. He emerged several shades paler then before, to find the woman waiting for him naked on the bed.

"You do clean up nicely don't you?"

"Yes mistress," Ben muttered to the floor, trying desperately not to look at her. Suddenly she was in front of him, like some lithe cat, tilting his chin up, to look in her eyes. Absently Ben noted she was taller than him.

"And innocent too. You've never done this before have you?"

"No, mistress." He spoke back then, meeting her gaze firmly. Take what you can his mother had told him. "Teach me please?"

Her only answer was a rather wicked smile, and to do as he asked.

Afterwards they didn't speak for several minutes, until she ordered him to fetch two glasses of cool tea from the galley. When he returned she was sitting up on the bed, and patting the space next to her, as he approached. He obliged handing her the tea as he did so.

"You did rather well for your first time."

"Thank you, Mistress." Ben replied savoring his tea. A water based drink was such a luxury. In fact this whole night had been something of a luxury.

"What's your name boy."

"Ben, Mistress."

"Lucky enough to have a last name with that?"

"Skywalker, Mistress. Ben Skywalker."

"Now tell me Ben Skywalker, how a very handsome boy like yourself" she gestured lazily at him, "managed to avoid such a situation as this until now?"

"I was very scrawny, very lucky, very careful, and a very good mechanic, still am. My mother can also be very clever when she wants to."

"You're still with your mother? That is lucky."

"Oh she's not my real mother. I don't remember the woman who gave birth to me. She's been taking care of me since I was fourteen though. You're right I was-, am very lucky to have her."

"Got a girlfriend?" Ben laughed at that.

"No. Just my Mom, my little brother, and I. Although it feels like everyone asks that."

The woman leaned back on the bed, setting her tea aside for a moment, and motioned for Ben to do the same. She ran her fingers along Ben's rather beautifully sculpted sweat soaked abs.

"Not quite clean enough to eat off anymore. When was the last time you did have a proper bath?"

"Can't remember. I've belonged to reptiles my entire life. They don't put a huge stock in cleanliness" Not strictly true, Ben Skywalker had belonged to reptiles. That year on the pirate ship didn't really count, and Obi-Wan had belonged to the Jedi, and Yoda was technically an amphibian. He almost chuckled at the though of Yoda owning him.

"If it's not too forward of me, Mistress, why did you ask for me? You are clearly an attractive woman, you should have no trouble finding some one to warm your bed."

"Ah, yes I could have my pick of men, and occasionally I do, but they would all be looking out for themselves and their pleasure. You, you looked out for me, you asked politely what I wanted, and for help, and now I have you for the rest of the night. You don't go rushing out the door." At that she snuggled up to him, and he obliged putting his arms around her. "Sleep my Ben, after all we both must work in the morning."

"Yes Mistress." The bed was far more comfortable then Ben ever thought it could be, and he soon drifted off.

In the morning she let him use the fresher once more, fed him, laughed at his amazement at the glass of water she gave him, then sent him on his way. When he returned to the shop his mother didn't say anything, for which he was grateful. She simply scolded him for being a minute or two late, and set him to work, and that was the end of that.

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	7. In Which Ben Finally Finds a Girlfriend

I have finals this week, so bless your lucky stars, of which if they are the kind found before wars, I don't own, you're getting a chapter at all.

Chapter 7. In which Ben Finally Finds a Girlfriend

She was looking at him, the customer. Ben was pretending he wasn't looking back. She had come in twice before, although he was pretty sure she had actually only needed something the first time. The moment he had looked up from the counter to see her, he had been struck by her, and she had clearly been struck by him.

She was tall, about his height, which for a human man of twenty was quite average. Her hair so blonde it was almost white. She had pale blue eyes, and very thin features to match her willowy figure. She wore the clothes of a spacer, although not very well, as if they were still new to her frame, and she lacked callouses on her hands. From the moment their eyes had met she had entranced Ben, and he could feel her desire for him through the force. She'd told him her name was Satine. He wondered why she hadn't simply asked Watto how much he was yet. Perhaps she didn't have the money, although that didn't appear to be the case. He was looking forward to when she finally did ask.

As Satine lingered after her purchase, both of them leaning over the counter to flirt it suddenly occurred to him that she was waiting for him to ask her. He was disgusted with himself, he was thinking like a slave. Why on earth should his only pleasure come with payment? It's not like a cent of that went to him. Watto came in at that moment, grumbling down from his afternoon nap, interrupting Ben's train of thought.

"_Get back to work Ben." _Then turning to Satine in basic."Girl,stop distracting my slave. If you're not buying, get out." Satine rolled her eyes at Watto but did as he asked.

"Bye Ben." Satine spoke, giving Ben a quick smile as she headed for the door. Ben's stomach dropped, and before he knew what he was doing his mouth opened.

"Wait! Satine I'll be done at eight." Her smile at his words was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.

"I'll be waiting." And with that she was gone. Ben felt a matching smile, spreading across his own face. Until Watto hit him over the head with a dirty paw,

"Owww, _Master what was that for?"_

_ "She likes you. Can't see why. Don't screw it up, and don't be late or neglectful in the morning, or I won't let you see her again. I thought humans were supposed to have grown out of this by now." _

_ "You know us Master, always in heat." _Watto glared at him, pointing to the work sitting unfinished on the counter before hitting him upside the head again and drifting away grumbling.

Satine was waiting outside when he was done. Wrapped in a nice leather jacket, a blaster at her hip, the way she lounged against the wall set Ben on fire.

"I thought you said you were a pacifist?" He spoke pointing to the blaster at her hip.

"Now that is an interesting discussion. I am a pacifist but I'm also not stupid, although I used to be. Why don't you carry any weapons?"

"Firstly I don't need any, secondly it's too expensive to mess with a slave. Watto would kill any one who touched me. And we're not changing the topic here. Come on," he took her hand, he had used precious water to clean his own hands thoroughly, "you can explain your interesting philosophical choices over dinner."

They ate at the only restaurant in the slave quarter, if one could call it a restaurant. It was several cobbled together long benches and tables, set under an awning strung with small salvaged lights. It was just at the edge of the slave quarter, its front entrance was a brothel and a cantina during the day. It was run by the oldest slave in Mos Espa, who did only a little weaving during the day, and so ran the make shift meeting place the night before rest day, and opened it to worshippers the next morning. Although few actually believed, everyone went to the shaman Jira's service. It was short, and afterwards everyone got to see each other.

They did indeed discuss Satine's philosophical choices over dinner. She explained to Ben how at eighteen there had been much political unrest on her planet of Mandalore. Her party had advocated peace, refusing to even touch weapons, denying their heritage as fierce warriors. They had been forced out of office, and their planet had continued to be at war. Sacrificing national pride, Satine had asked the Jedi, the Mandalorian traditional enemies, for help, but it had failed, and she and many of her compatriots had been forced to flee. They had managed to bring their battle to the senate where it was currently going through the courts, and looked to be going in their favor.

The problem then lay in getting the current head of state to leave. He had declared himself King, which as Satine explained to Ben was perfectly ridiculous as they had a Duchess, democratically elected thank you very much. Satine herself had been traveling from Courscant where the courts were, to various outposts of displaced Mandaloreans. She was part messenger and part leader from what Ben could tell, and clearly more powerful then she was saying. He didn't mind her fibbing, after all he was doing the same.

"I am curious though, why did you say you didn't need a weapon?" Satine spoke, sucking the marrow from her bone, after she had finished her own story.

"Finish that and I'll show you. You have had martial arts training right?"

"Most of my life, ironically enough. Like I said Madaloreans are proud warriors."

"Well then you won't object to a little spar?"

"Of course not,"

"Well then let me pay, and we can go."

"Wait, I have more let me pay."

"That's not the way it works. Let me show you." And Ben did, putting his name on the list of favors. "Next time I come into something good, I'll give it to Jira. I can't eat here again until my names off the list."

"Clever."

"Isn't it? Now I promised you a spar." And he offered his hand, and a courtly bow, and they made their exit. The whole dinner would have the slave quarter bustling by the next morning, with the news that Shmi's elder son was courting a spacer.

It was getting late, the second sun had set by the time Ben led Satine up to an open roof, on which were set out several reed mats. However the amazing carpet of stars above provided enough light.

There were several bins off to the side filled with what looked like long reed poles. Satine realized they were crude home made practice weapons. Ben pulled one out, and motioned to Satine to chose her own. She did picking a long staff.

"Need to warm up?" Satine shook her head no, and the two faced each other in opening stances. Balanced low, forward on the balls of their feet, they began to prowl around each other.

It is Satine who strikes first, bringing her staff low in sweeping movements. She didn't even have a chance, Ben moved so fast her eye almost can't see. Satine barely manages to last a minute, before her staff goes clattering away.

"How did you learn to do that?" She replied amazed, retrieving the staff from where it had rolled.

"I didn't become a slave until I was thirteen, before that I was from a warrior culture much like Mandalore. I've been practicing almost constantly since then, trying not to forget anything. My mother and my little brother practice with me as well. Care to try your luck at hand to hand?"

"You bet." She lasts much longer there, and although Ben eventually wins he is panting by the time they're done. Flopping down on the reed mats, he gazes up at the stars.

"Impressive, as well." Satine speaks, flopping down beside him. They sit for a while watching the stars. They are both soaked with sweat, and eventually a cool breeze springs up, which means they of course find themselves tucked in each others arms, for warmth obviously.

That is until Ben gently began nuzzling at Satine's neck, gently blowing on it. For some one in her early twenties she really had no control, Ben thought absently to himself, as she literally jumped him. Then again he had been keeping her at bay for the better part of a week, and after that cognizant thought was beyond him.

Luckily for them they had enough presence of mind not to sleep outside, not only would it have been cold, but some one would have undoubtedly found them in the morning. They got dressed quickly in the cold, although reluctantly, occasionally pausing to steal a kiss, and Ben walked Satine back to her ship. Apparently she didn't travel alone, although she hadn't mentioned that fact, there were two other life forms on her ship, both of whom were friendly.

"Come when you can?" Ben asked, hopefully. His bright eyes crinkling in a half smile, captivating Satine.

"Always." Satine replied. And then Ben kissed her on the boarding ramp to her ship, before slipping away into the night.

His mother woke him the next morning to go to work, her arms crossed, her face stern.

"Really Ben? A spacer?"

"Yes a spacer." He yawned back, fishing around for a shirt. "Her name is Satine, she's a Mandalorean refugee. No I don't know if or when she's coming back. But she is brave, strong, and good in a fight. Reminds me of you Mother." And with that ultimate compliment, Shmi was too shocked to ply much more into her son's personal life, and Ben skipped off scot free to breakfast.

Satine did come back, many times in fact, but only every couple of months. Her cause was deteriorating and each time she came back she was more and more frustrated. The trials were taking too long, and each week they lost ground.

One night, just after about two years together, she had come practically flying in to the shop, received a negative, to her inquiry if Watto was around, and simply flung herself into Ben's arms.

"Satine, Love. What's happened?"

"We lost. They gave the planet to that traitor, that King!" here she paused to spit. "It was the trade federation, all along. When the trial started going wrong, they were providing the funding." And the whole story spilled out. How she was actually the Duchess, and had been forced from the throne she had been elected to for life. How she had been travelling around investigating, and had finally discovered why the trial wasn't going well, but it had been too late. All decisions made by such high courts were final.

"Ben, the republic is no longer working." She was now pacing in the back room, where the two of them had sequestered themselves. Anakin at seven had easily taken over Ben's work for the day. "The Jedi have failed me, and then the courts and now the senate. There is no truth, no justice anymore, at least not in the republic. Everything is so corrupt I practically feel safer out here, at least the hutts are open about their corruption."

"What are you going to do now."

"I don't know Ben. I think I understand now how my ancestors felt when they took up the armor. They were proud of their abilities because they were protecting our home. I will do what I have to I think."

"Even if it means betraying your values?"

Satine rubbed her hands over her face in frustration before replying.

"I'm not sure what my values are any more, Ben. I carry a weapon, I lie to the man who loves me. Now I think I'm going to go lead my people into battle. I might not come back. Can you forgive me Ben?"

"Satine there is nothing to forgive, you were protecting your people, just as I protect my family, and you must go to them now. If there is one thing you and I understand it's duty, and I love you for it."

"Thank you Ben." Satine replied pulling him into a hug. Ben wrapped his arms around her even tighter, resting his forehead against hers. Pausing for a moment to savor her presence.

"Things are changing, Satine, I've been feeling it for a while now. I do not think I will be a slave for much longer." Satine drew back to look into Ben's deadly serious face. Taking his face in her hands.

"What do you mean Ben?"

"Do you remember how I told you before I became a slave I belonged to a warrior culture."

"Yes although, I assumed you did not wish to speak of it."

"I don't, but I must. Satine that culture was the Jedi. Before I was chosen to be an apprentice I began having dreams, visions really about Anakin burning. No one would listen to me, not the man who was supposed to lead me to knight hood, nor the head of our order. So I left, I went to go find Anakin, and the longer I am away the more I see how utterly blind the Jedi are, how they are refusing to see. Things are happening, and Satine they are not good. So you should go. Go and protect your people, do as much as you can to shield them from the storm that's coming. I will find you if I can."

"You put your self into slavery for your family?"

"It was an accident actually, but yes."

"I love you Ben."

"You gave away your life at eighteen to lead your people to peace. I love you Satine." And they held each other not moving for as long as they could. Trying to make the moment last as long as possible. That night they held each other even longer in the bunk in her ship.

They parted early the next morning, promising as always to come when they could. They did not see each other for some time. The day after she left, Ben began gathering the parts for three lightsabers, as he'd said, things were coming, and it was best to be prepared.

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	8. Quinlan Comes for Another Visit

I do not own any and or all of the above, a car, a house, a horse, a multi billion dollar film franchise called Star Wars, or really awesome children's books documenting Obi-Wan's childhood. Also I'm not apologizing for how late this is, or how I didn't really edit it because I had exams and move out this week. Ooo I hate how I'm turning into a long author's note kinda person, I hate long A/Ns.

Chapter 8. Quinlan Comes for Another Visit

It took Ben the better part of a year to find the parts for the first two lightsabers. The first of which he gave to Shmi, much to her protests, the second, after he had helped Shmi make hers, he gave to Anakin, who was not allowed to even touch the parts until he solemnly swore he would never ever raise a blade but in the defense of good and love. Despite her earlier objections it was Shmi who insisted they practice every day until they had everything Ben remembered down perfect, and then they began to invent their own moves.

The third blade was giving Ben trouble, every crystal he had stolen just wasn't quite right some how. He had even gone so far as to rob the only jewelry store in town, risking a public execution on a torture stick, the most common punishment for slaves who stole.

He felt like screaming at the force. The force was telling him he was needed NOW! Or at least sometime soon, time was rather relative to something that had seen all of it, but it refused to give him a weapon to do so. Which was why when it woke him, ONCE AGAIN, in the middle of the night, he felt for the first time in his life like insulting it with his impressive collection of swear words and turning over and going back to sleep. Except for the fact that his mother flicked on the light, and at his groan dumped him out of bed with a force push.

"I know you felt that. Get up and go see what it is. If they're nice invite them to dinner." And only because despite years as a slave Ben still had a Jedi's ingrained politeness in him he didn't transfer what he had been saying to the force to his mother, and instead simply replied,

"Yes, Mother." And collecting an already alert nine-year-old Anakin went to go see what it was. It didn't take them long to find the disturbance.

"Who is that?" Anakin asked innocently as they stared over the edge of a building at a well muscled man dressed in sleeveless leathers with long dreadlocks and a yellow stripe across his nose trying to break his way into a building owned by the hutts.

"That is a drick eating, screcking, frukking, son of a bitch, named Quinlan Vos. Don't tell Mom where you learned those words." Anakin scrunched up his nose in offense at the implication that he would.

"Of course not, Beni. Isn't that the Jedi you said came to visit us when we belonged to Gardulla."

"Yes, he dragged me out of bed then too." Just then Quinlan managed to set off an alarm, and guards came running, sending Quinlan running as well. "Come on Ani, this time you can help me get him out of trouble again." And so they did.

It was simple enough really. They sent out force pushes, toppling over containers in all directions, sending the guards running in all directions, and then hauled Quinlan up onto the roof with them.

"Have you really not learned your lesson yet Quin?" Ben poked Quin in the middle of his chest, "You" poke, "do not" poke "mess" poke "with the hutts!"

"Good to see you too Ben. I assume this is Ani. Jeezuz kid you sprouted. Also Bant's not mad at you anymore Obi."

"You have pretty hair." Anakin commented, staring up at Quinlan.

"Thank you for telling me Quin. I assume you can handle the rest on your own?" Ben growled, ignoring Anakin and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Thanks kid, yours is nice too." Quin ruffled Anakin's own blonde mop, "Yeah sure Ben, shouldn't be too hard."

"Great don't make me get up in the middle of the night again, and you're expected for dinner at seven tomorrow sharp. Come on Ani, I bet we can salvage a few hours of sleep yet." And with that the two brothers disappeared over the rooftops leaving a Jedi to find his own way home.

Quinlan did in fact arrive the next night at seven sharp. Bearing two gifts, one a letter from Satine, which Ben took with trembling fingers. He had told Satine only to contact Quinlan Vos with news in an extreme emergency. He tucked the letter in his innermost pocket, over his heart, the same place he used to keep Bant's model starfighter, which now sat over Anakin's heart. He would read it latter when he was alone. The second gift was Ben's lightsaber, the one that he had left at the temple, and the one that he was not supposed to need as an agri-corps worker. If he had brought it with him, as he had been tempted, it probably would have been long gone.

"How on earth did you get this?" Ben asked Quinlan in shock, turning the now too small weapon over in his hands.

"Nicked it, actually. Had a feeling I would run into you on this trip."

"Thank you Quin, I was beginning to get desperate." And with a small pop clicked open the lightsaber and withdrew the crystals. Obi-Wan ginned at them, as they practically buzzed in his hand. "Oh I missed you two. I am sorry I left you behind, but I didn't really have a choice."

"Beni." Shmi spoke, from where she had just entered from the kitchen.

"Yes Mom?"

"Why are you talking to a pair of crystals?"

"Because I felt guilty for leaving them in the temple. Quin brought them for me."

"Excellent. Also dinner's ready. There will be no lightsabers at the table, or fixing of lightsabers. Is that clear?" and that was the end of that.

Dinner itself was a pleasant affair. Anakin was full of questions for Quinlan, where he had been, how is mission was going, exciting adventures, what the temple was like. In essence he was a typical nine year old boy, bouncing in his seat.

Talk had turned more serious as Anakin had gotten tired and hence quieter. Ben had asked how Satine had been when Quinlan had seen her. Although he was disappointed to learn that she had actually contacted him through secure channels, not actually seen her in person, Quinlan did have news of her. Satine had joined her sister, on one of the moons of Mandalore, where they were leading the rebellion, wearing traditional armor. There was other news, but Quin refused to tell him until Ben had read the letter.

Other things were not going so well either; the trade federation was taking over more and more, as well as their fellow guilds, most notably the techno guild. There was some unrest within the Order as well. One of the council members, Master Dooku, and his pupil, Qui-Gon Jinn, who was apparently still "pissed" at Ben, although Ben couldn't see why, were beginning to preach reform, and it was not going over well.

Finally after Anakin had gone to bed, and everyone else had settled down after dinner, Shmi to make jewelry that she sometimes sold, and Quinlan to meditate, Ben opened the letter from Satine with dread. They had agreed to contact each other only in the most extreme of circumstances. Shmi's stomach too sank. After reading the first line, Ben's face drained of all color, although the force was strangely silent. Ben read it through completely, before turning to Shmi.

"Ben what's wrong, what's happened?

Then as if a switch had been flicked, Ben's face suddenly lit up in completely joy.

"Congratulations Mom. You're a grandmother."

"What!" Shmi called, as Ben pulled her out of her chair and into a hug.

"Satine didn't realize she was pregnant until a couple months after she left. It's all in the letter Mom." Ben was practically singing. "I have a daughter. Oh Mom, I have a daughter. Her name is Shya. Here read." And he shoved the letter into Shmi's hand, just so he could clasp Quinlan in a hug.

"You knew, Quinlan you Bastard, you knew, that's why you wouldn't tell me."

"I'm sorry Ben, but Satine made me promise not to say anything until you'd read. I have holos too." He held them up as a peace offering. Ben grabbed them as if a starving man to bread.

"Oh she's beautiful." Ben was lost in the pictures already, gently touching the face in the pictures as if he could touch the real face a thousand parsecs away.

"Ben." Suddenly Shmi was pulling on his sleeve. "Ben it says she's coming."

"I know." Ben was instantly serious, "Mom, I know we don't have much, and please forgive me for asking, but I want Shya to stay here, with us. Our life is bad, but my daughter, oh gods I have a daughter, she's living in a war zone."

"She is my granddaughter, I would not turn her away, but Watto may. Consider your options carefully, Beni. Like you said things are changing."

"I may have a solution, Ben. What if I take her to the temple?" Quinlan pipped in. "She will be safe there."

Ben's face went even whiter then when he had read the letter, and his fear easily rippled through the force.

"NO, Quin, no. The temple is not safe, not safe at all. Please don't ask that of me. I can't give up my daughter to die in a war, or in a slaughter. I will fight, but please at least let me try and protect her, help her before she fights."

"Ben, I didn't mean… I'm sorry I asked, forgive me?"

"I'm sorry Quin, you didn't know. There is nothing to forgive." He let out a harsh laugh, "Thank the gods, I never actually became a Jedi. I form attachments much to easily."

"Sometimes Ben, I think you're a better Jedi then all of us."

"Beni, Mom, what's going on?" Anakin's sleepy head peaked around the corner.

"I'm sorry we woke you Ani," Ben spoke picking up Anakin, "but I had a letter from Satine."

"Is she alright?" Ani asked, suddenly alert.

"She's fine, actually more than fine. I have a daughter Ani; you have a niece. Her name is Shya, and she's a little under a year old. Satine is bringing her soon."

"Really!"

"Yes really, and she might stay. Now it's late, and we have to get up early to work, and Quin to drink, bed."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes we all have to." and they did. Although Ben stayed up a little later, reading and rereading the words, and he fell asleep with the picture of his daughter under his pillow.

The next day Ben stayed late at the shop, so he could speak to Watto alone.

"_Master please, I must ask you something." _Ben started in huttese

"_What do you want Ben, it's been a long day."_

"_I received a letter from Satine last night."_ He replied handing over the letter. Watto snatched it, as was his habit, perusing it quickly. His bulbous eyes widened as he read.

"_You have a daughter?"_

"_Yes Master, I- I am not sure what to do Master, and if this displeases you I will start with begging your forgiveness."_

"_No, as enjoyable as that would be, it's Satine you need to apologize to. I told you not to screw this up, and low and behold you did. Stupid boy, you practically abandoned that poor woman with a child. You belong to me, no matter what you do you can't support her. I should have never let you see her."_

"_I should have listened to you Master I am sorry, please there must be some way I can care for her. Can't you think of anything? What if you rented me out more at nights, could I send that money to her?"_

"_No, no that wouldn't work at all. You would be too tired to work during the day, and you're just not that popular Ben." _Suddenly Ben's face lit up as if he had suddenly had an idea. Only his mother and perhaps Anakin could tell he was faking.

"_Master what of the laws of ownership? The hutts decree that if two slaves have a child the child belongs to the father's Master, if the father is known."_

"_Satine is not a slave boy."_

"_What if you put the mother down as unknown or dead?"_

"_Then I'd be stuck with a slave who could do no work, and you with your time sucked up caring for an infant."_

"_But she could do work someday. Either way you win Master, eventually you gain back what you have lost with the two years my daughter can't work, or Satine buys her back for much more then you lost." _Ben could slowly see Watto being won over. He waited with baited breath, to see how Watto would respond.

"_I don't understand you humans. How could you do this, do you know nothing of common sense. Besides why would you put your child in slavery?"_

"_You read the letter Master, Satine is fighting in a war. I would rather have my child in slavery, then dead before she could live, even if it is a stunted life." _Watto was teetering on the edge. Ben had put Watto in the position of benevolent protector of the stupid humans, and he knew Watto liked that, feeling superior. Just a little more, Ben thought, before pressing on.

"_Please Master," _he begged dropping to his knees. "_please allow me to atone for my mistakes, for not listening to you. I need your help, please don't let my daughter suffer for something I've done. She rightfully belongs to you anyway." _Maybe that was a bit thick, Ben swallowed nervously, as Watto didn't reply right away. Watto turned, stroking his chin, rotating slowly in the air, thinking. Finally he turned back to Ben.

"_When Satine comes your daughter may stay."_

"_Thank you Master." _Ben spoke, true relief coloring his voice. His daughter was safe, well relatively. He bowed down, forehead touching the ground, before rising to his feet once again. "_Her name is _Shya _Master. For all that I have done her a disservice brining her into the world" _He bloody well had not, Ben thought to himself, "_I hope that she will be a blessing, in our lives."_

"_As do I. Now out, it is late." _And so Ben left, restraining his joy until he was in the slave quarter sharing the news of his daughter with everyone he met.

Satine came three weeks later, with no warning. The door chime of the shop simply rang one day, and Anakin looking up, found a familiar figure framed in the bright outline of the sand swept doorway.

"Satine!" he'd called running forward and hugging her around the legs, then, "Ben! Beni come here quick!"

"Anakin, there's no need to-" and Ben pulled up short, as Satine came into view, dropping the oily rag he'd been holding. In two long steps he had crossed the room, taking Satine's face in his hands, and drawing her into a deep kiss.

He drew back not saying anything, just wearing a goofy grin, and staring into her eyes.

"So where is she?" Anakin piped in, annoyed at all the gooey stuff. Both adults still looking a little woozy, turned to look at him with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Shya! Your daughter?" Anakin exclaimed, giving them both looks as if they had lost their minds. Satine suddenly seemed to snap out of her haze, and then she withdrew the back pack from her back, and they were able to see that it was not in fact a back pack but a baby carrier, done in traditional Mandalorian style, with a stiff back and laced up the front like a shoe lace, with a an upside down U shaped sun shade. However only Anakin noticed this, Ben was too busy staring in awe at what it contained.

Within lay a sleeping baby girl, with tufts of tawny red hair slipping through a light crocheted cap. Satine was already carefully unlacing the straps of the carrier, and lifting the small thing dressed in light linens into Ben's arms.

Ben's arms quickly found the position in which they had frequently been in nine years ago and had never truly forgotten, although this wasn't Anakin this was his daughter. His daughter Shya; suddenly everything felt unbearably fragile and awkward. As if one wrong breath would splinter this precious thing into a million pieces. Just when Ben felt panic rising in his throat, a pair of perfect bright blue eyes opened and latched on to his, and the world stopped.

"Hello, little one." Ben whispered, he could feel her in the force. Gently probing her mind, he felt her simple thoughts, and to his astonishment found that she trusted him already, that she, some how just as Anakin had long ago, knew him. He gently let her know through the force that he trusted her back, that he knew her, that he had been waiting for her, and was glad she was here, and then his thoughts, which had not really been in words anyway drifted off into simple comforting murmurs of love.

Satine slipped her arm around his waist, and put her chin on his shoulder.

"This is our daughter Shya, I have not yet given her a last name, I thought to give that honor up to you."

"Oh gods above Satine, that is a harder task then you realize."

"How so? I thought your culture was matrilineal."

"Yes and no. My original last name was Lars, but when children in my family are sent to the Jedi we receive special names. The name I went by as a Jedi was Kenobi. Shmi's culture is patrilineal, but both Anakin and I had no father, so we took her last name. Then there is your last name, we are not married, so by Shmi's customs Shya should have your last name."

"Well that's easy to fix." Anakin once again butted in, causing both adults to turn to him. "Shya's not a Jedi so her name shouldn't be Ken-whatever, and it's not Lars cause you can't remember them Ben. Then you two can just get married, and now her name is Skywalker. See it rhymes! Shya Skywalker. Perfect!" Anakin finished jumping off the counter, and skipping out to go find Shmi.

The adults turned to each other, still a bit in shock.

"He does propose an easy solution." Satine spoke, lacing her fingers through Ben's.

"He does. How about it Satine Kryyze? Will you marry me?"

"Frankly I'd never considered doing anything else."

"Good, How does tomorrow sound.?"

"Hmm such a long engagement?"

"Tonight then. Jira will be happy to do so." Ben responded kissing her heartily, before his daughter protested with squawk at being squished. Making both parents break out in laughter.

The wedding was simple, they jumped over a broom, and spoke a few words and that was it. Jira was happy to marry them, and happy for them, however gossip abounded, and some of the neighborhood, especially the younger women were not. Not many people could understand them, why was the spacer marrying Ben when he was still in slavery? Because they had the child? Even though the woman was just taking right off again, and leaving her child in slavery? It was obvious to all that the couple was happy, although that was all that was obvious.

The new family spent their wedding night separate on Satine's ship. Ben treasured every moment; they would perhaps be the only ones they ever had just as a normal family. Duty ripped them apart, but at the same time kept them together, because the parts they loved most in each other, the parts that defined them were rooted in duty, and a desire to help and protect. It was only for a moment tucked in Satine's arms, that Ben wished he really was just Ben Lars, first mate on a smuggling ship to his lady, Captain Satine, with their new child, perhaps running spice for the hutts. He then laughed when he realized that even in his fantasies of normal life he was still leading an exciting life that most people could only dream of.

At the low rumbling of his chest from his laugh, his wife, by the gods he loved saying that, snuggled closer to him in her sleep. Tomorrow was rest day, they could face all the of the unpleasantness tomorrow, tonight he could sleep peacefully, and be content even if his daughter decided to wake him up with crying.

Satine was surprisingly easy to talk into the plan of leaving Shya on Tatooine. She knew that despite the danger of simply being on the planet, it was still safer than an outright warzone, and she could not be leaving Shya in more protective hands. Ben would guard his daughter with his life, and well Watto would guard her as he guarded his money, which was to say very, very well.

Satine knew logically she was making the right choice, but it didn't stop her from letting out a few ragged sobs quietly the moment the ship switched over to autopilot in hyperspace. Nor did it stop Ben from hugging his daughter to him and crying soft tears after everyone else had gone to bed.

Shya turned out to be a very sweet tempered child. In the traditions of Satine's warlike people, Satine had trained Shya to not cry by pinching on Shya's nose whenever she did so, so that positions would not be given away by a child's loud sobbing. Shya did cry but not long and not very loudly, more whining when she needed something, and at almost a year old it was easy enough for Ben to teach her to call out in the force as well. Shya was learning to use the force the same way most children learned to talk, as she was constantly surrounded by people using it. Of course the more difficult things such as telekinesis would take lessons and work when she was older but she could sense and feel things easily, using the force as a regular part of her senses, simply a part of what she was.

Ben found it much easier to care for Shya then Anakin. Although they were of about the same temperament as babies, Shya was older, and there were more people to care for her, including an initially reluctant Quinlan Vos, who was still seemingly trying to get himself killed investigating the hutts. Ben did the same with Shya as he had with Anakin, often strapping her to his back as he worked, or setting her near by. Although this was getting more difficult as she grew older, giving her more mobility and making her speedier.

Shya was beginning to pull herself up on things, and crawling where she wasn't supposed to. Although, through the force she generally knew what was safe and what wasn't that didn't help her if she wasn't strong enough or big enough to stop things from hurting her. Shya had been living with them for a month when a very poisonous snake had almost bitten her. Remembering the protocol droid that had helped them watch out for Anakin when they lived with Gardulla, Ben had ordered Anakin to work as fast as he could on C-3PO, then Ben had headed off into the desert in the middle of the night with Shya on his back.

He had returned with a baby Scyk clutching and mewling around a giggling Shya's shoulders. Scyk's were long heavily muscled reptilian animals native to Tatooine, with even longer snouts full of very sharp poisonous teeth and a sail like ridge on its back. They were extremely vicious and attacked people at random. Their favorite food also happened to be snakes, specifically poisonous snakes.

However at the moment the Scyk was no bigger than Ben's hand from tip of his middle finger to wrist. It would grow quickly and eventually be as long as he was tall. It was Shya who had picked the Scyk out. Ben had snuck into a Scyk's nest in one of the canyons and after calming the only recently hatched Scyks with his mind and placed Shya into the middle of the withering mass. It had become immediately clear that she favored one over all the others, a male with large brown patches on its sides. Ben began weaving a bond on the spot between his daughter and the now calm but usually vicious animal.

It was Anakin who had discovered the ability to form bonds with animals. Jedi who were allowed no attachments, had either never had the ability in the first place or had lost it over time. Living with Gardulla, Anakin had formed weak bonds with many of the scaly creatures that had wandered into their cave home. Some of them had even followed him to Watto's and either lived at the shop or under his bed at home. Ben and Shmi put up with them grudgingly. Essentially by purposefully creating such a tight bond so early in both Shya and the Scyk's life he had given Shya an unwavering guard who would protect his daughter to its last poisonous fanged breath.

Anakin had been thrilled with the new animal, and declared immediately that it was a he not an it, and that its name was Flowers.

"How do you know its name is Flowers?" Ben asked from as he leaned against the counter, to where Anakin was playing with Shya and Flowers on the floor.

"**He **told me when I asked. And I told you Beni, Flowers is a he not an it."

"I know, I know, but really flowers?"

"It's what Flowers wants to be called. He thinks they're pretty. Here look." And Anakin directed Ben towards the Scyk's mind. Sure enough Flowers thought that his scales looked like the pretty things that grew under some of the rocks at the oasis. They drank water and liked the sun and so did he. Hence according to Anakin's logic the Scyk was to be called Flowers, and so he was.

Flowers grew at an alarming rate, although luckily he did his own hunting. By the time Shya hit her first birthday a month later Flowers was as long as Shya, and the crate that Shya slept in instead of a crib was too small to hold both of them, as they wouldn't sleep apart. Ben didn't mind, what was going to attack his daughter when she slept next to a thing designed to kill everything except krayt dragons?

It was at the addition of Flowers to their family that Ben began to be called Wizard. He had always been considered a bit eccentric, often stopping people in the street randomly and giving little snips of advice that came in handy at odd times and performing those amazing acrobatics of his, but now not only did he charm a beautiful spacer into marrying him and giving him a beautiful daughter, but he spelled wild beasts into protecting his family. At first people had thought him insane, even letting his daughter near the thing. Latter many were just spooked by the tame Scyk, and new customers coming into the shop often had a shock, especially when they saw the infant playing next to the Scyk. Ben had taken to tying Flowers to a wall so people were at least partly reassured. Watto was pleased though; no one stole or tried to cheat him. Ever. Eventually people grew used to it, and treated it just like any other pet.

If you were to walk into Watto's shop on any given day, after you're eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the first thing you would notice would be the mess and grime. After that you would notice one of two good looking but filthy and ragged males tending counter, sometimes both. The elder would be short but handsome, made even more so by the baby often strapped to his back. The younger would be more adorable than handsome, with his blonde hair, button nose, and blue eyes. When the younger male had a baby strapped to his back, you often pitied both little ones. No one that young should have to take care of someone even younger; it was a sign of abject poverty.

Then you would notice the Scyk. Heaven knows where that would be. At only two feet long, it could be sleeping on the counter, or prancing like some feline between feet, or hissing at you tied by a rope around its neck in the corner.

At the sight of the Scyk whether you knew what it was or not, your heart would skip a beat, and you might take a step back. If you were truly lucky, your heart would jump out of your chest at the sight of a human infant with a tuft of bright red hair, sitting on a blanket and playing with the thing, or perhaps napping, the Scyk curled up next to it, whistling softly through its large nostrils.

If you had come to see the Wizard Ben you knew at the sight of the tame wild thing you had come to the right place. Not many outside the slave quarter came to see him, and many outsiders were shocked by his young age and normal appearance. You had to make sure that Watto wasn't there, but if you did it was always worth it. He gave good advice, that made it seem sometimes as if he could see the future, and he could cure little colds and other ailments with just a touch of his fingers. In return the wizard asked only that you be kind and help others and occasionally for information or a favor, maybe if you had seen or heard anything that stood out to you, or perhaps to carry a message to a neighboring town. The Wizard's little brother was often near, small upturned face watching, sometimes helping. Some people Ben turned away or could not help, and sometimes he wondered if he was wise in revealing so much of his power. Perhaps some one would take notice and come to investigate, and then Ben thought of all the charlatans practicing just on Tatooine and laughed at himself. He would be lost among the flood.

Unfortunately Ben was not a charlatan and so two months after Shya's first birthday both he and Anakin woke from visions panting. Rising up on his elbows for a minute Ben listened with both the force and his ears to see if he had woken any one else.

"Da-da?" Shya's voice called out in the darkened room. Ben groaned quietly to himself, apparently his distress had awoken Shya.

"Shhhh. Honey, everything's all right." He comforted lifting her to his shoulder from where she had been standing by gripping the edge of her makeshift crib. "Things are just coming, that's all, sweetie." Ben muttered rubbing soothing circles on his daughter's back. He heard a rustle of scales, and felt Flowers slither down from the crib and rub his snout against Ben's leg. "Everything's fine for you too Flowers. Don't worry, everything is going to be all right."

"Ben?" Anakin called appearing in the doorway of Ben's room, holding an oil lamp, as their electricity was turned off at night. "Did you- did you see something too?"

"Yes Ani. We'll talk about it in the morning. I need Quinlan's advice as well. Did you want to sleep with me tonight?" Ben spoke beckoning Anakin to come in.

Anakin nodded placing the lamp on a side table, and taking Ben's hand. The shelf that Ben slept on was a tight fit for the three humans and one reptile but they managed it. Although it was a waste of precious oil, the lamp stayed on for the rest of the night.

Read Review or I shall invoke some kinda curse on you. If I feel up to it.


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